Southwest: Other airlines found cracked fan blades
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 deadly Southwest accident April 17.
Mike Van de Ven, chief operating officer at Southwest, 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 to comment on the statements by Southwest and GE.
The blades are being analyzed as part of the NTSB’s investigation of the accident in which Jennifer Riordan, a mother of two, died of blunt-force injuries after being pushed partly out of a broken window as her plane cruised 32,000 feet above the ground.
The safety board has scheduled a hearing on the accident Nov. 14.
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. The inspections focused on blades from engines that had made a high number of flights and were considered at greater risk of metal fatigue — the formation of invisible cracks from wear, Kennedy said.
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.