Other carriers find cracked engine fan blades, Southwest says
DALLAS — A small number of fan blades with cracks like those blamed for a fatal accident on Southwest Airlines have been found at other airlines, and the engine maker is considering recommending more frequent inspections.
A spokesman for General Electric, one of two companies that owns the engine manufacturer, said Friday that “a handful” of problematic fan blades have been removed during stepped-up inspections that followed the Southwest accident in April.
Southwest’s chief operating officer, Mike Van de Ven, said he knows of “maybe four or five” reports of cracked fan blades at other carriers. Neither Van de Ven nor GE identified the airlines.
A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board declined comment.
The blades are being analyzed as part of the NTSB’S investigation of the accident in which a woman died after being pushed partly out of a broken window as her plane cruised at 32,000 feet. The safety board has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 14.
The NTSB said earlier this week that the hearing will examine fan blade design and inspections. The board also will look at measures to prevent broken parts from becoming deadly shrapnel.
That engine was made by CFM International, a joint venture of GE and France’s Safran SA. GE spokesman Rick Kennedy said about 150,000 blades were inspected after the Southwest accident.
Kennedy said that in the 21 years since the CFM56-7B engine went into service there have been only two incidents in which a fan blade broke.
Van de Ven said Thursday that GE told Southwest it is considering recommending that airlines inspect and lubricate fan blades every 1,600 to 1,800 flights instead of every 3,000 flights. CFM International suggested the 3,000-flight maintenance schedule after the accident. Van de Ven said Southwest checked 17,000 blades in 30 days and will recheck them every 1,600 flights.
Investigators believe that a broken fan blade triggered a breakdup of one of the engines on a Southwest jet as it flew from New York to Dallas on April 17. Jennifer Riordan, a mother of two, was sitting next to a window that was shattered by engine debris. The bank executive from Albuquerque, New Mexico, died of blunt-force injuries.