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Lori Aratani
Reporter focusing on transportation issues, including airports, airlines, and the nation's railroad and subway systems
There was a boom, followed by strong vibrations, then Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 rolled 41 degrees before pilots were able to stabilize it.
One flight waiter said the pressure in her ears was so great she could barely hear anything.
Crew members went to a row of passengers and a flight attendant while reaching their destination. Row 14 to find a woman still in her seat belt . Flight attendants grabbed the woman with the help of two passengers. Another passenger, a nurse, began CPR while a flight attendant ran to retrieve a defibrillator.
Jennifer Riordan, of Albuquerque, died.
The chilling details were among the information released Wednesday in the opening of a National Transportation Safety Board Hearing on the Engine Failure on Dallas-bound Boeing 737-700 on April 17.
New York 's LaGuardia Airport, sending debris hurtling into the plane, shattering a window and causing a rapid loss in cabin pressure. Pilots landed the crippled plane with 144 passengers and five crew members safely in Philadelphia.
It was the first fatality on the United States in a 50-year history.
On Wednesday, the NTSB officials questioned the company's representatives on the design and testing of the engine involved and pressed them against the actions they took following a similar incident of engine failure in 2016.
[One person is dead after engine fails on Dallas-bound Southwest flight]
NTSB investigators are trying to understand what they are trying to understand. An earlier investigative update noted that there were signs of metal fatigue on the broken fan blade. Investigators also looked at this incident and reported it to be another Southwest Airlines jet. No one was injured in this incident, but the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Pensacola, Fla.
Documents released as part of the report of the President of the United States of America.
Wednesday's hearing opened with testimony from Boeing; CFM International, the joint venture between GE Aviation and France's Safran SA, which manufactures the CFM56-7B engines; and the Federal Aviation Administration.
[Southwest orders emergency engine checks following fatal accident]
Mark Habedank, engineering lead of CFM International, investigators through the design and testing of the engines in the event.
He said the company recommended more frequent inspections using more advanced technology in the wake of the Philadelphia incident. Shortly after the incident, the FAA issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) requiring inspections of some CFM56-7B engines. Any blades that failed the inspections were to be replaced. The agency had issued an advisory for such inspections before the Philadelphia incident, but the AD made them mandatory.
"While we are not doing the current active investigations, we can say that CFM responded aggressively following a previous event in 2016 and working closely with regulators and operators to complete a multi-phased inspection program of the broad CFM56-7B fleet (~ 350,000 fans). blades in total) following the Flight 1380 event, "Jamie Jewell, spokesperson for CFM International, said in a statement. "All of the CFM56-7B fan blades targeted by the various Airworthiness Directives were cleared by mid-August 2018, ahead of the August 31 deadline."
Habedank told investigators Wednesday that the inspection has been identified in an additional issue. Four of the blades were operated by Southwest; were operated by other operators.
Habedank said it was not unusual that it would have been found on Southwest planes. The airline's fleet is made entirely of Boeing 737s, and all of them are equipped with the CFM56 engine.
In follow-up questioning, John DeLisi, Director of the NTSB's Office of Aviation Safety, is concerned about the number.
"That's a lot of blades that are cracking," he said. "Is that a surprise to CFM?"
Habedank agreed.
"It was unexpectedly long ago," he said, adding that the recent failures have given the company a better understanding of the problem.
FAA Investigators also commented on their response to the two incidents.
Victor Wicklund, of the FAA's transportation standards, said the agency had failed, and thought it was "an anomaly."
Pensacola was "a very unexpected event," added Christopher Spinney of the FAA's Engine Certification Office. "We determined that it would require some corrective action, but also determined we had some time."
However, that changed after Philadelphia.
Officials from Southwest said the plane had undergone an inspection before the beginning of the year.
It is expected to take 12 to 15 months for investigators to determine the cause of the Philadelphia engine failure.
In closing, T. Bella Dinh-Zarr, chairwoman of the NTSB's board of inquiry looking into the fatal incident, expressed support for the families affected by the April tragedy.
"Although we can not avoid the tragic morning near Philadelphia, our commitment to the NTSB is to learn from this accident so we can keep it from happening again."
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