A B737-700's left engine failed during climbout with a loud bang; so an emergency was declared; the ...

Narrative:

At 5;000 ft on a normal departure; a loud bang was heard from the aircraft. The number 1 engine instruments immediately indicated an engine failure. At the time; the first officer was flying the aircraft and did an excellent job continuing to fly the aircraft while I accomplished the checklist items. First; the boxed items for the engine fire/severe damage/separation/seizure checklist was accomplished from memory because of the loud bang that occurred and the vibration that initially occurred. After the engine was shut down and while reviewing the checklist; I realized that we had an engine failure instead of the engine fire/severe damage/separation/seizure condition. I then accomplished the engine failure/shutdown checklist. Step 9 states to evaluate an engine restart attempt. We had good RPM on the number 1 and number 2 RPM gages; so we elected to attempt a crossbleed start. The in-flight engine start checklist was then accomplished. The engine did not start after 30 seconds so the start was aborted and no further attempt was made to start the engine. At that point; the one engine inoperative checklist was accomplished. The first officer then transferred control of the aircraft to me and I accomplished the single engine landing.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-700's left engine failed during climbout with a loud bang; so an emergency was declared; the Checklist completed and the flight returned to land overweight.

Narrative: At 5;000 FT on a normal departure; a loud bang was heard from the aircraft. The Number 1 engine instruments immediately indicated an engine failure. At the time; the First Officer was flying the aircraft and did an excellent job continuing to fly the aircraft while I accomplished the checklist items. First; the boxed items for the Engine Fire/Severe Damage/Separation/Seizure Checklist was accomplished from memory because of the loud bang that occurred and the vibration that initially occurred. After the engine was shut down and while reviewing the checklist; I realized that we had an engine failure instead of the Engine Fire/Severe Damage/Separation/Seizure condition. I then accomplished the Engine Failure/Shutdown Checklist. Step 9 states to evaluate an engine restart attempt. We had good RPM on the Number 1 and Number 2 RPM gages; so we elected to attempt a crossbleed start. The In-flight Engine Start Checklist was then accomplished. The engine did not start after 30 seconds so the start was aborted and no further attempt was made to start the engine. At that point; the One Engine Inoperative Checklist was accomplished. The First Officer then transferred control of the aircraft to me and I accomplished the single engine landing.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1045374
Time
Date	201210
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Turbine Engine
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 196 Flight Crew Type 196
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 188 Flight Crew Type 4000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A B737-700's left engine failed during climbout with a loud bang; so an emergency was declared; the checklist completed and the flight returned to land overweight.