Narrative:

On climbout at approximately 6000 ft; a loud bang was heard and the aircraft shuttered; auto throttles and autopilot disconnected. I was flying. I scanned the instruments; noticed the left engine failed. I instructed the first officer to declare an emergency and we started a right downwind turn for landing. Weather was VFR; I elected to secure the left engine; N1; N2 had rotation. But prior to securing the engine; the egt was around 700 degrees. Once the fuel lever was off; the egt came down to 400 degrees. The first officer started the APU; we secured the left pack and the first officer briefed the flight attendants and prepared the cabin for landing since I was hand flying the aircraft. During this whole process; the bank angle audio alert kept sounding. This initially was a major distraction because I kept cross-checking my instruments; the standby instruments; the first officer's instruments and even outside; our bank angle was normal. The first officer tried to disable this audio; but it would not go off. We accomplished the before landing checklist; airport rescue and fire fighting standing by; we landed without incident. Stopped the aircraft on the runway and allowed the fire fighters to inspect the engine; no fire. I instructed the flight attendants to remain seated. The fire trucks followed us to the gate. I briefed the passengers on what took place. Outstanding job by the first officer; great situational awareness; really assisted me with getting this aircraft safely on the ground.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An MD80's turbine assembly failed after takeoff. An emergency was declared and the aircraft returned to land.

Narrative: On climbout at approximately 6000 FT; a loud bang was heard and the aircraft shuttered; auto throttles and autopilot disconnected. I was flying. I scanned the instruments; noticed the left engine failed. I instructed the First Officer to declare an emergency and we started a right downwind turn for landing. Weather was VFR; I elected to secure the left engine; N1; N2 had rotation. But prior to securing the engine; the EGT was around 700 degrees. Once the fuel lever was off; the EGT came down to 400 degrees. The First Officer started the APU; we secured the left pack and the First Officer briefed the Flight Attendants and prepared the cabin for landing since I was hand flying the aircraft. During this whole process; the Bank Angle audio alert kept sounding. This initially was a major distraction because I kept cross-checking my instruments; the standby instruments; the First Officer's instruments and even outside; our bank angle was normal. The First Officer tried to disable this audio; but it would not go off. We accomplished the Before Landing checklist; Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting standing by; we landed without incident. Stopped the aircraft on the runway and allowed the fire fighters to inspect the engine; no fire. I instructed the Flight Attendants to remain seated. The fire trucks followed us to the gate. I briefed the passengers on what took place. Outstanding job by the First Officer; great situational awareness; really assisted me with getting this aircraft safely on the ground.

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.