Broken fan blade triggered events that led to plane death
The investigation into a deadly engine failure on a Southwest jet is focusing on whether wear and tear caused a fan blade to snap off, triggering a catastrophic chain of events that killed a passenger and broke a string of eight years without a fatal accident involving a US airliner.
From investigators’ initial findings, the accident appears remarkably similar to a failure on another Southwest plane two years ago – an event that led the engine manufacturer and regulators to push for ultrasonic inspections of fan blades on engines like the one that blew apart at 32,500 feet over Pennsylvania.
When investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board examined the broken engine in Philadelphia just hours after it made an emergency landing, they saw that one of the left engine’s 24 fan blades was missing.
NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt said: “This fan blade was broken right at the hub, and our preliminary examination of this was there is evidence of metal fatigue where the blade separated.”
As a precaution, Southwest said it will inspect similar engines in its fleet over the next 30 days. Chief executive Gary Kelly said there were no problems with the plane or its engine when it was inspected on Sunday.
Investigators will focus on whether the fan blade broke off at cruising speed – around 500mph – and started an “uncontained” engine failure that sent debris flying into the body of the plane, where it broke a window.
A woman sitting near the window was sucked partially out of the plane before other passengers managed to pull her back in.
A registered nurse and emergency medical technician on board tried to save the gravely injured woman. But Jennifer Riordan, a Wells Fargo bank executive and mother of two from Albuquerque, New Mexico, died later. Seven other victims suffered minor injuries.
The pilots of the twin-engine Boeing 737 bound from New York to Dallas with 149 people on board made an abrupt turn toward Philadelphia and began a rapid descent after the engine blew. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling, and passengers reported they prayed and braced for impact.
Peggy Phillips, a retired nurse on board who helped perform CPR on the injured woman, told a TV station in Dallas: “We heard a loud noise and the plane started shaking like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. It sounded like the plane was coming apart.”
She added: “Basically I think all of us thought this might be it”.
Passengers also praised one of the pilots, Tammie Jo Shults, for her cool-headed handling of the emergency. The former US Navy pilot was at the controls when the plane landed.