EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
2-3 minutes after takeoff we experienced a loud bang and a shudder from the airplane. Flight Attendant (FA) B called me and stated she had heard a loud noise which I confirmed I had also heard.  I immediately called the flight deck to see if they had also heard it.  The captain answered and stated 'we have an engine failure; we are turning back; you have about 10 minutes and I will call back with special instructions.'  I called FA B up to brief her and locked my LAV.  The passengers were beginning to ask questions as they had obviously all heard the noise and we briefed them that we would be turning back and to return all seats and tray tables to their upright positions and to make sure seatbelts were fastened.  The captain called back to ask if we could look out at the engine and see if we saw smoke or anything unusual.  We looked and did not.  He then said he would call back which he did shortly and said that the engine was now in idle and appeared to be functioning for the time but we would still be returning.  He did not expect us to have to evacuate now that he was more aware of what was going on.He said he would make an announcement to the passengers and did so stating that we would be returning due to an engine failure and that he did not anticipate us having to evacuate and it should be a normal landing but we would be met by fire trucks.  We did our final preparations and compliance checks for landing and each took our jump seats.  The captain called back one final time stating we would be landing in 5 minutes and if we were ready.  We stated that we were and that everyone was seated.  Upon touchdown the captain came on the PA and commanded 'standby; standby' which we followed with instructing everyone to 'stay seated'.  The fire marshal checked our engine and we were cleared to taxi in without incident to our gate where we deplaned.
An EMB-175 Flight Attendant describes an engine failure on departure from her perspective; and the ensuing return to the departure airport.