Southwest Airlines sought more time for engine inspections

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines sought more time last year to inspect fan blades like the one that snapped off during one of its flights Tuesday in an engine failure that left a passenger dead.

The airline opposed a recommendation by the engine manufacturer to require ultrasonic inspections of certain fan blades within 12 months, saying it needed more time to conduct the work.

Southwest made the comments last year after U.S. regulators proposed making the inspections mandatory. The Federal Aviation Administration has not yet required airlines to conduct the inspections, but said late Wednesday that it would do so in the next two weeks.

The manufacturer’s recommendation for more inspections followed an engine blow-up on a 2016 Southwest flight. On Tuesday, an engine on another Southwest jet exploded over Pennsylvania, and debris hit the plane.

A woman was sucked partway out of the jet when a window shattered. She died later from her injuries. Federal investigators are trying to determine how the window came out. The passenger killed, Jennifer Riordan, was wearing a seatbelt.

The plane, a Boeing 737 bound from New York to Dallas with 149 people aboard, made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.

Tuesday’s emergency broke a string of eight straight years without a fatal accident involving a U.S. airliner.