Narrative:

Shortly after take off; while power was being changed to climb thrust; there was a very loud bang and associated vibration throughout the aircraft. The aircraft yawed and we noted a failure of the left engine. Indications were low N1 rotation speed; high itt temperature; no N2 rotation and low oil pressure. As the flying pilot I pulled the left thrust lever back to arrest the high itt temperature condition and then instructed the first officer to begin running the QRH procedures.in light of the condition of the engine we concluded that the engine was critically damaged and elected to not attempt the relight procedure; additionally we were unable to restart the APU as directed by the QRH. Afterwards I advised the flight attendant of our status and advised her that I did not anticipate requiring a cabin evacuation upon landing. I then addressed the passengers and began coordination with dispatch and airport operations. We returned and made a successful single engine approach and landing on 18C. After we cleared we had the crash fire rescue equipment team inspect the aircraft for fire or smoke. Since there was none noted; we had buses take the passengers off and the aircraft towed by maintenance. The cause of the failure is unknown to the crew. There were no unusual indications prior to the failure that would have warned the crew a failure was imminent.flight had to make an emergency landing to ZZZ airport. After being handed off from approach we heard the tower clear a flight for takeoff when we were on final for the same runway. Our distance at the time that clearance was issued was between 3 and 5 miles. By the time the departing aircraft had started its roll the distance was less than 2 miles and it was clear that if that aircraft had to abort the takeoff our flight would have had to execute a low altitude single engine go-around; possibly a botched landing.I would like to give kudos to ATC handling of our flight in general but its clear that this was a very ill advised decision by the tower operator to clear an aircraft for departure so close to our arrival on the same runway. The potential for a dangerous conflict is too great.I would like to give kudos to ATC handling of our flight in general; but its clear that this was a very ill advised decision by the tower operator to clear an aircraft for departure so close to our arrival on the same runway. The potential for a dangerous conflict is too great.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ flight crew returned to their departure airport following the seizure of the left engine shortly after takeoff.

Narrative: Shortly after take off; while power was being changed to climb thrust; there was a very loud bang and associated vibration throughout the aircraft. The aircraft yawed and we noted a failure of the left engine. Indications were low N1 rotation speed; high ITT temperature; no N2 rotation and low oil pressure. As the Flying Pilot I pulled the left thrust lever back to arrest the high ITT temperature condition and then instructed the First Officer to begin running the QRH procedures.In light of the condition of the engine we concluded that the engine was critically damaged and elected to not attempt the relight procedure; additionally we were unable to restart the APU as directed by the QRH. Afterwards I advised the Flight Attendant of our status and advised her that I did not anticipate requiring a cabin evacuation upon landing. I then addressed the passengers and began coordination with Dispatch and Airport Operations. We returned and made a successful single engine approach and landing on 18C. After we cleared we had the CFR team inspect the aircraft for fire or smoke. Since there was none noted; we had buses take the passengers off and the aircraft towed by Maintenance. The cause of the failure is unknown to the crew. There were no unusual indications prior to the failure that would have warned the crew a failure was imminent.Flight had to make an emergency landing to ZZZ airport. After being handed off from Approach we heard the Tower clear a flight for takeoff when we were on final for the same runway. Our distance at the time that clearance was issued was between 3 and 5 miles. By the time the departing aircraft had started its roll the distance was less than 2 miles and it was clear that if that aircraft had to abort the takeoff our flight would have had to execute a low altitude single engine go-around; possibly a botched landing.I would like to give kudos to ATC handling of our flight in general but its clear that this was a very ill advised decision by the Tower Operator to clear an aircraft for departure so close to our arrival on the same runway. The potential for a dangerous conflict is too great.I would like to give kudos to ATC handling of our flight in general; but its clear that this was a very ill advised decision by the Tower Operator to clear an aircraft for departure so close to our arrival on the same runway. The potential for a dangerous conflict is too great.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.