‘I just remember holding my husband’s hand, and we just prayed and prayed’
▶ Passengers on plane forced into emergency landing after one was nearly sucked out of window recall ordeal
A woman died after being sucked half-out of a US passenger jet flying at about 9,700 metres when shards from a damaged engine broke a cabin window.
Passengers grabbed bank executive Jennifer Riordan, 43, and dragged her back into the plane, then tried to plug the hole after a sudden loss of pressure.
The pilots took the Dallas-bound twin-engined Southwest Airlines Boeing 737, flying from New York with 149 people on board, to safety in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “I just remember holding my husband’s hand, and we just prayed and prayed,” said Amanda Bourman. “And the thoughts that were going through my head of course were about my daughters, just wanting to see them again and give them a big hug so they wouldn’t grow up without parents.”
Riordan, a Wells Fargo executive and mother of two from New Mexico, died despite attempts to revive her.
Seven others on the plane suffered minor injuries.
A preliminary examination of the engine showed evidence of “metal fatigue,” said US transport officials.
As a precaution, Southwest said that it would inspect all similar engines in its fleet over the next 30 days.
In a recording of conversations between the cockpit and air traffic controllers, an unidentified crew member reported that there was a hole in the plane and “someone went out”.
Passenger Alfred Tumlinson said a man in a cowboy hat rushed forward a few rows to grab the woman and pull her back in. “She was out of the plane. He couldn’t do it by himself, so another gentleman came over and helped to get her back in the plane, and they got her,” he said.
Mrs Bourman said she was seated near the back and was asleep when she heard a loud noise and oxygen masks dropped. She said the plane was fairly quiet because everyone was wearing a mask.
“Everybody was crying and upset,” she said. “You had a few passengers that were very strong, and they kept yelling to people, you know: ‘It’s OK. We’re going to do this’.”
Tracking data from FlightAware.com showed Flight 1380 was heading west over Pennsylvania at about 9,800 metres and travelling at 804.7 kilometres an hour when it abruptly turned towards Philadelphia.
The last time a passenger died in an accident on an airliner in the US was 2009, when 49 people on board and one on the ground were killed in the crash of a Continental Express plane near Buffalo, New York.
John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member, said investigators will take the CFM56-7B engine apart, as well as study its maintenance records.
“There’s a ring around the engine that’s meant to contain the engine pieces when this happens,” Mr Goglia said.
“In this case it didn’t. That’s going to be a big focal point for the NTSB – why didn’t [the ring] do its job?”
CFM is jointly owned by General Electric and Safran Aircraft Engines of France.
Mr Goglia said the Boeing 737 is a safe plane, but that engine failures did occur from time to time.
“We’re pushing the engines to produce as much power as possible,” he said. “We’re right on the edge. Sometimes they fail, and that’s why the containment ring is there.”