Article from BTNews 23 APRIL 2018
Southwest engine probe
Investigators on Friday ordered emergency inspections within 20 days of nearly 700 aircraft engines similar to the one involved in a Southwest Airlines incident earlier last week in which a woman passenger died.
The order by the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency applies to CFM56-7B engines, made by CFM International. Observers said the move indicated rising concerns since a similar failure in 2016.
The FAA said the engine explosion on Southwest’s Flight 1380 from Dallas to New York was caused by a fan blade breaking off. Debris shattered a window, causing the death of the woman in the first US passenger airline fatality since 2009.
Passengers who tried to help the woman, who was seated on the left-hand side of the Boeing B737-700, said she was sucked halfway out of the broken window with the aircraft at 30,000ft and travelling at 500mph.
After she was pulled back in, a nurse answered the call for help and began to perform CPR on the woman, who was the only fatality.
After the aircraft landed, passengers applauded the captain, former US Navy fighter pilot Tammie Jo Shults, and her crew for their handling of the incident. One passenger said the B737 “dropped for a few seconds and then the pilot kept the aircraft steady as a rock until touchdown”.
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