Hunt for jet pieces
PHILADELPHIA — A commercial airplane’s engine failure on Tuesday bears similarities to problems on another plane less than two years ago, but federal investigators declined to say there was cause to worry about a class of engine shared by both aircraft and used by hundreds of airlines around the world.
“We are very concerned about this particular event,” said Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. “Engine failures like this should not occur, obviously . . . . If we feel this is a deeper issue, we have the ability to issue an urgent safety recommendation.”
The NTSB was not taking that step Wednesday, he said in Philadelphia, adding that it needed more information. The planes, both Boeing 737s flown by Southwest Airlines, had fan blades that broke inside the engine. NTSB investigators found evidence of fatigue cracks in both broken blades.
Sumwalt did not rule out a manufacturing problem as a cause.
On Wednesday evening, however, the FAA said within the next two weeks it will order inspections of certain CFM56-7B engines.
Southwest Flight 1380, flying from LaGuardia Airport to Dallas on Tuesday morning, made an emergency landing in Philadelphia after its left engine experienced a failure that appeared to be caused by the breakage of a fan blade. Debris that blew out of the engine struck the fuselage, shattering a window and leading to the death of Jennifer Riordan of Albuquerque, N.M, who was sitting in the 14th row, Sumwalt said.
Riordan died from “blunt impact trauma of the head, neck, and torso,” according to The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office.
Witnesses said the force of the plane’s pressurized air escaping partially pulled her out of a window before fellow passengers were able to pull her back in. The flight carried 144 passengers and five crew members.
Investigators were still collecting pieces of metal that surrounded the engine from as far as 65 miles away from Philadelphia.