Emergency Landing in Pittsburgh

I (Mitch) made the newspaper last week. Here is the story: I was flying a trip from Pittsburgh, PA to Atlantic City, NJ last Saturday March 8 in the same snow storm that dumped all the snow in Nashville a few days earlier. Since it was snowing so hard, we had to get de-iced. This process removes all the snow and ice off the airplane and prevents it from accumulating. The taxi-ways and runways we covered in slush and snow. It was the captain's turn to fly this leg so after we de-iced, we taxied and took off. On rotation and while the main landing gear were still on the ground, our left engine failed. The engine was banging very loud as we were climbing at less than half our normal rate of climb. I told the tower what had happened and that we needed to return to Pittsburgh for an emergency landing. When we finally made it to 3,000 feet, we ran the engine failure checklist and shut down the left engine. The captain made a brief announcement to the 117 passengers and 3 flight attendants that we were having engine trouble and we were returning to PIT. We landed in weather that was blowing snow, poor visibility, and low overcast skies. Crash Fire and Rescue Vehicles were waiting on us. Our tough training paid off! The King (Sky King Airlines) did give us the rest of the day off however, I had to work 2 extra days after that. Rainer was sad to have me coming home later than we had planned but at least I was coming home in piece. God was really watching over us that day. My job is never boring!