The National Transportation Safety Board says a preliminary examination of the blown jet engine of the Southwest Airlines plane that made an emergency landing in Philadelphia shows evidence of ‘metal fatigue.’
In a late night news conference, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said one of the engine’s fan blades was separated and missing.
Sumwalt says the blade was separated at the point where it would come into the hub and there was evidence of metal fatigue.
Southwest Airlines says it’s speeding up inspections of engines like the one that failed and sent debris smashing into a plane window, leading to the death of a passenger.
he National Transportation Safety Board says a preliminary examination of the blown jet engine of the Southwest Airlines plane that made an emergency landing in Philadelphia shows evidence of ‘metal fatigue’
In a late night news conference, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said one of the engine’s fan blades was separated and missing
Sumwalt says the blade was separated at the point where it would come into the hub and there was evidence of metal fatigue
Southwest Airlines says it’s speeding up inspections of engines like the one that failed and sent debris smashing into a plane window, leading to the death of a passenger
Southwest said Tuesday it expects to finish inspections of the CFM56 engines over the next 30 days. It says it’s making the move out of caution.
The engines are made by CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and France’s Safran SA.
Southwest and CFM are both promising to assist federal officials in the investigation.
One person was killed and seven others were injured after the twin-engine 737 blew an engine at 30,000 feet and got hit by shrapnel that smashed a window.
The plane from New York to Dallas landed in Philadelphia.
Sumwalt says part of the engine covering was found in Bernville, Pennsylvania, about 70 miles west of Philadelphia.
A bank executive and mother of two from New Mexico has been identified as the woman who died after the window blew open.
News of Jennifer Riordan’s death was first shared by the assistant principal of the Albuquerque Catholic school attended by her two children.
Jennifer Riordan, a bank executive and mother of two from New Mexico, has been identified as the woman who died after a Southwest Airlines jet plane blew an engine and got hit by shrapnel that smashed a window
She was the wife of Michael Riordan (left), who served until recently as the chief operating officer for the city of Albuquerque
Riordan was also a well-known community volunteer from Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to a Wells Fargo official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as she was unsure whether all of Riordan’s family had been notified of her death
In an email to parents, assistant principal Amy McCarty wrote that ‘the family needs all the prayers we can offer.’
Riordan was a vice president of community relations for Wells Fargo bank.
She was the wife of Michael Riordan, who served until recently as the chief operating officer for the city of Albuquerque.
Riordan was also a well-known community volunteer from Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to a Wells Fargo official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as she was unsure whether all of Riordan’s family had been notified of her death.
Riordan was on the way back from a New York business trip, where she had sent a tweet on Monday showing the view from her hotel in Midtown Manhattan with the caption: ‘Great business stay.’
Her Facebook page shows she was married with two children.
The New Mexico Broadcasters Association on social media said Riordan was a graduate of the University of New Mexico and former board member.
The head of Southwest Airlines says that there were no problems with a plane involved in a fatal emergency landing when it was inspected two days ago
The head of Southwest Airlines says that there were no problems with a plane involved in a fatal emergency landing when it was inspected two days ago.
Chief executive Gary Kelly said at a news conference in Dallas on Tuesday that there were no problems with the plane or its engine.
Kelly says the plane has gone through 40,000 takeoffs and landings since it was delivered in July 2000.
That includes 10,000 since its last overhaul.
He declined to identify the crew.
The US transportation secretary is praising the pilots, crew and passengers for helping to prevent a far worse tragedy.
Secretary Elaine Chao said her department is working with the NTSB to determine the cause and ensure the safety of the traveling public.
‘We have a part of the aircraft missing, so we’re going to need to slow down a bit,’ the plane’s captain, Tammy Jo Shults, told air traffic controllers in audio from the cockpit released on NBC News.
Asked by a controller if the jet was on fire, Shults said it was not, but added, ‘They said there is a hole and someone went out.’
At 11:18am, passenger Marty Martinez posted on Facebook a live video of himself on the plane, wearing a breathing mask, as the plane descended
‘A woman was partially, was drawn out of the plane and pulled back in by other passengers,’ Todd Bauer, whose daughter was on the flight, told the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia.
At 11:18am, passenger Marty Martinez posted on Facebook a live video of himself on the plane, wearing a breathing mask, as the plane descended.
More than an hour later, at 12:27pm, Martinez posted pictures of a blown-out window and the badly damaged engine.
‘Everybody was going crazy, and yelling and screaming,’ passenger Martinez told CNN.
Martinez said objects flew out of the hole where the window had exploded, and ‘passengers right next to her were holding onto (the woman being pulled out). And, meanwhile, there was blood all over this man’s hands. He was tending to her.’
Television images showed that most of the outer casing around the left engine of the Boeing Co 737-700 ripped away and a window near the engine on the plane’s left side was missing.
‘All of a sudden, we heard this loud bang, rattling, it felt like one of the engines went out. The oxygen masks dropped,’ passenger Kristopher Johnson told CNN.
‘It just shredded the left-side engine completely. … It was scary.’