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There was a loud bang and suddenly the Southwest Airlines jet swung sharply to the left. The smoke began to fill the cabin, and the flight attendants rushed to make sure all passengers could get oxygen from their masks.
When flight attendant Rachel Fernheimer reached rank 14, she saw a woman tied to her lap belt, but with her head, torso and arms hanging from a broken window.
The passenger sitting in the window, Jennifer Riordan, was fatally injured. It is the first death on a flight of an American company since 2009.
Ms. Fernheimer grabbed one of the woman's legs while the air hostess Seanique Mallory grabbed her lower body. They described their inability to bring the woman back on the plane until two male passengers intervened to help.
The harrowing details of the April 17 th fatal flight were first published as the National Transportation Safety Board began a hearing Wednesday on the engine failure of Southwest Flight 1380, which carried 144 passengers and five crew members.
The passengers and crew members aboard the SouthWest flight recalled that they had desperately tried to bring Ms. Riordan back into the plane. Image: AP via Marty Martinez
An investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating damage to the Southwest Airlines aircraft engine that has landed urgently at the Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia. Image: AP
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The flight attendants told the investigators that at least one of the male passengers had passed his arm out the window and had it wrapped around the woman's shoulder to help her with the bring back to the interior. "data-reactid =" 60 ">The flight attendants told the investigators that at least one of the male passengers had passed his arm out the window and had it wrapped around the woman's shoulder to help her with the bring back to the interior.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Ms. Fernheimer stated that by looking out the window, she could see that one of the aircraft's engines had been broken and there was blood on the outside of the aircraft."data-reactid =" 61 ">Ms. Fernheimer stated that by looking out the window, she could see that one of the aircraft's engines had been broken and there was blood on the outside of the aircraft.
Flight attendants requested medical volunteers. An ambulance attendant extended the woman onto a row of seats and began to perform chest compressions. They tried a defibrillator, but that indicated that there was no shock. The paramedic and a nurse took turns at the RCP.
The passengers asked if they were going to die. Ms. Fernheimer said that she shook their hands.
"She told them that they were going to get there," wrote an investigator.
Pilots Tammie Jo Shults and Darren Ellisor landed the crippled Boeing 737 in Philadelphia.
Wednesday's hearing in Washington was devoted to the design and inspection of the engine's fan blades, carried out by CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric and Safran S.A., in France.
Jennifer Riordan, pictured here with her husband, died during the flight. Image: AP
A CFM official defended the design and testing of blower blades as one that broke in the southwest aircraft as it flew over Pennsylvania, triggering an engine break causing projection of a fragment of fragments of debris.
After the fatal accident, CFM has recommended the use of frequent and more sophisticated tests using ultrasound or electrical currents.
Another Southwest jet had suffered a similar break with a blade in 2016 over Florida.
CFM and federal regulators viewed the Florida incident as an aberration.
"We determined very early that corrective action would be necessary because it was a dangerous condition," said Christopher Spinney, FAA engine expert, Wednesday.
"But we also determined that we had a little time."
Rather than ordering immediate inspections of fan blades after the 2016 incident, the FAA began a slower process of drafting a regulation and obtaining public comment before adopting it. This process was still going on when the fatal accident occurred almost two years later.
The flight attendants stated that they were unable to bring the woman back on the plane until two male passengers intervened to assist. Image: AP
Since the deadly flight, widespread inspections have located eight more fan blades on similar CFM engines that also have cracks.
The exploded fan blade had been last inspected six years earlier and, it was determined, was already suffering from metal fatigue, but went unnoticed by a less sophisticated examination used at the time. .
It was thought that the fan blades had no real life limit. CFM and FAA officials said they were now considering replacing the blades at some point, even if they did not show wear.
CFM representatives also testified about the testing and certification of jet engines, which are supposed to be built to prevent parts from detaching and flying freely.
The investigation is continuing. Wednesday's hearing was largely technical. It was headed by one of the five members of the security council, Bella Dinh-Zarr. Full board should determine a probable cause of the accident in the coming months.
At the same time, Ms. Riordan's husband, Michael, said in a statement, on behalf of her family, that she "was grateful for the heroic actions of the passengers who had tried to save Jennifer's life."
"The most important thing now is to ensure that the aircraft and engine failures that caused Jennifer's untimely and unnecessary death do not happen again," he said.
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