Chicago Tribune, "Jetliner's engines to face scrutiny; Minor problems arose in model's years of service"

          Pilots who had flown the American Airlines jetliner that crashed Monday had reported five incidents of a smoky odor in the cockpit and dozens of other relatively common problems during the jet's 13 years of service, but nothing that would foretell the rare event of an engine disintegrating or separating intact from a wing.
          Experts said engine deterioration could be related to many types of events, ranging from the turbofan ingesting birds to a compressor stall, which causes the passage of air through the turbine's compressor to become unstable and can result in the loss of power.
          Witnesses to Monday's crash of the Airbus A300 in New York reported hearing an explosion and seeing fire. A compressor stall during takeoff creates a loud bang and often is accompanied by flames.