FAN BLADE INSPECTIONS
Airline says it has now begun such testing
The manufacturer of the engine that blew on a Southwest Airlines flight recommended fan blade inspections, but the airline said it needed more time.
DALLAS — Southwest Airlines sought more time last year to inspect jet-engine fan blades like the one that snapped off during one of its flights Tuesday in an accident 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. Southwest said it needed more time, and raised concern over the number of engines it would need to inspect. Other airlines also voiced objections.
It wasn’t until after Tuesday’s accident that the Federal Aviation Administration announced it will soon make the inspections mandatory. It is unclear how many planes will be affected by the FAA order. Airlines including Southwest say they have begun inspections, anyway.
An engine on a Southwest jet exploded over Pennsylvania on Tuesday, and debris hit the plane. Jennifer Riordan, a 43-yearold bank executive from Albuquerque, N.M., was sucked partway out of the jet when a window shattered. She died later from her injuries. The Boeing 737, bound from New York to Dallas with 149 people aboard, made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.
Investigators said the blade that broke off mid-flight and triggered the fatal accident was showing signs of metal fatigue — microscopic cracks from repeated use.
The National Transportation Safety Board also blamed metal fatigue for the engine failure on a Southwest plane in Florida in 2016 that was able to land safely.
That incident led manufacturer CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and France’s Safran SA, to recommend in June 2017 that airlines conduct ultrasonic inspections of fan blades on many Boeing 737s.
In August, the FAA proposed making the recommendation mandatory. The oldest blades would be inspected within six months, while others would face an 18-month deadline. CFM commented that the longer deadline be shortened to 12 months.
During the public comment period, which closed in October, Southwest and several other carriers raised objections. Southwest pushed back against CFM’s request for a 12-month deadline and American Airlines asked for 20 months.
The FAA never issued a final decision. A spokesman said the agency juggles dozens of rules and the time to complete a final regulation varies based on many factors, including complexity of the issue.
On Wednesday, the agency said it would issue a directive in the next two weeks to require the ultrasonic inspections of fan blades on some CFM56-7B engines after they reach a certain number of takeoffs and landings. Blades that fail inspection would need to be replaced.
Southwest announced its own program for similar inspections of its 700-plane fleet over the next month. When asked why the airline resisted the proposal last year, spokeswoman Brandy King said Southwest needed more time to find individual suspect blades within certain engines. She said Southwest had already inspected half of the blades identified in the engine maker’s notice before Tuesday’s accident.
A Delta Air Lines spokesman said that airline had done all the necessary inspections, but he didn’t know how many planes that involved. American Airlines said it has inspected blades on the oldest affected engines, and United Airlines said it has started inspecting its 737s.
While recommendations from airplane and engine manufacturers like CFM are not mandatory — only regulators can force airlines to act — the carriers often follow the recommendations to reduce their liability in case of accidents. Critics said the airlines were slow to act.
“The public should be worried (because) a manufacturer sent out a warning, and Southwest and others didn’t do it,” said Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general of the Transportation Department, FAA’s parent agency.