US finally moves on jet blades

US airline regulators say they will order inspections on engine fan blades like the one that snapped off and triggered a fatal accident on a Southwest Airlines jet.

The move by the Federal Aviation Administration comes nearly a year after the engine manufacturer recommended the additional inspections, and a month after European regulators ordered their airlines to do the work.

Pressure for the FAA to act grew after an engine on a Southwest jet blew apart on Tuesday, showering the plane with debris and shattering a window.

A woman sitting next to the window died of her injuries. The plane made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.

Federal investigators said a blade that broke off in mid-flight was showing signs of metal fatigue — microscopic cracks that can splinter open under the kind of stress placed on jetliners and their engines.

The National Transportation Safety Board also blamed metal fatigue in preliminary findings after an engine broke apart on another Southwest Boeing 737 over Florida in 2016.

That led engine manufacturer CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and France’s Safran SA, to recommend last June that airlines conduct the inspections of fan blades on many Boeing 737s.

The FAA proposed making the recommendation mandatory in August but never issued a final decision.

In a brief statement late on Wednesday, an FAA official said the agency would issue an order in the next two weeks to require ultrasonic inspection of fan blades on some CFM56-7B engines after they reach a certain number of takeoffs and landings.

Blades that fail will have to be replaced, the agency said.

It is not clear how many planes will be affected.

Last year, the FAA estimated an order would cover 220 engines on US airlines.

Southwest announced its own program for similar inspections of its 700plane fleet over the next month. United Airlines executives say they have begun to inspect some of their planes.