One dead after Southwest Airlines jet engine 'explosion'

[ponder]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43803340

One dead after Southwest Airlines jet engine 'explosion'

One person has been killed and seven others received medical treatment after a US passenger jet's engine ripped off midair, officials say.

Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 made an emergency landing in Philadelphia after a window, wings and fuselage were damaged in the incident, officials say.

The flight was en route from New York's La Guardia airport to Dallas, Texas, with 143 passengers and five crew.

The last passenger death on a US commercial flight was in 2009.

The Boeing 737-700 in Tuesday morning's incident made a safe landing at 11:20 (15:20 GMT), said fire officials.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said they were aware of one fatality in the suspected "engine failure".

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt told reporters the type of engine, a CFM56, is "very widely used in commercial transport".

The father of one passenger aboard the plane told NBC Philadelphia that a woman was "partially sucked out" of a window after it was pierced by debris from the engine.

Read more...

 

[ponder]

 

[Sinbad]

Looks like compressor failed

 

[Captain Beer]

http://avherald.com/h?article=4b7725fb&opt=0

A Southwest Boeing 737-700, registration N772SW performing flight WN-1380 from New York La Guardia,NY to Dallas Love,TX (USA) with 143 passengers and 5 crew, was climbing through FL320 out of New York when the left hand engine (CFM56) was damaged causing inlet and parts of the cowl to separate from the airframe, debris impacted the side of the fuselage shattering a passenger window causing the loss of cabin pressure. The crew initiated an emergency descent, shut the engine down and diverted to Philadelphia,PA (USA). The crew requested a 20nm final, reported part of the aircraft was missing, they needed to slow down, they did have an engine fire indication, the crew requested medical services to meet the aircraft, they had injured passengers. ATC understood a passenger might have been sucked out of the aircraft but stopped that discussion "we'll work it out" once the aircraft was on the ground. ATC cleared the flight down to 3000 feet, airspeed on pilot's discretion and instructed the crew to report as soon as they wanted to turn base. While the aircraft was on short final tower advised emergency services there was a hole in the aircraft's side. The aircraft landed safely on runway 27L, vacated the runway and stopped on the adjacent taxiway.

 

[Jola]

Seems that the female pilot, Tammie Jo Shults, was an ex US Navy fighter pilot, and did a great job in getting the plane safely down.

Sure that there will be a lot more about this later.


Sources : BBC

 

[ForceFate]

Hectic

RIP and condolences

Well done to the crew

 

[OrbitalDawn]

Interesting stat for perspective:

The first U.S. airline accident fatality since 2/12/2009. Until today, U.S. airlines safely transported about 7 billion passengers over the past 9.2 years.

 

[ForceFate]

Interesting stat for perspective:

All thanks to Donald Trump
/s

 

[Gordon_R]

I read early reports before it was known that the passenger had died, and wasn't sure whether to post. The worst nightmare as a passenger, though fortunately rare in modern [US registered commercial jet] aircraft...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...st-plane-shatters-unprecedented-safety-string

Almost 100 million U.S.-operated airline flights, carrying several billion people, had taken off and landed safely in this country over a nine-year span since the last time a passenger died in an accident.

That record for avoiding fatalities -- which had never been approached in the history of modern aviation -- was splintered in an instant Tuesday when an engine on a Southwest Airlines Co. plane exploded mid-air, spewing shrapnel into a window and killing a passenger.

“This is a tragedy, but it has now reached a state where it’s a one off, a fluke, an extraordinary event,” Stuart Matthews, who worked on reducing accidents for more than a decade as president of the nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation, said of the Southwest accident. “We shouldn’t stop flying or have other hysterical reactions.”

The last fatal crash on a U.S.-registered carrier occurred near Buffalo, New York, on Feb. 12, 2009

 

[Gordon_R]

The NTSB has released a photo which appears to show an engine fan blade missing in this closeup image: https://www.twitter.com/NTSB_Newsroom/status/986396859785760768/photo/2

 

[The_Assimilator]

I've always been under the impression that modern jet engines are designed to ensure that it's absolutely impossible for debris to escape the cowling in the case of catastrophic engine failure. Is this correct?

 

[genetic]

I've always been under the impression that modern jet engines are designed to ensure that it's absolutely impossible for debris to escape the cowling in the case of catastrophic engine failure. Is this correct?

The real world does not work in ideal conditions.

 

[upup]

I've always been under the impression that modern jet engines are designed to ensure that it's absolutely impossible for debris to escape the cowling in the case of catastrophic engine failure. Is this correct?

Maybe some human did use the wrong bolt to fasten something

 

[Gordon_R]

I've always been under the impression that modern jet engines are designed to ensure that it's absolutely impossible for debris to escape the cowling in the case of catastrophic engine failure. Is this correct?

Absolute impossibility would require the engine to be so heavy that the aircraft never leaves the ground!

There are multiple different rotating parts in a jet engine, some are designed to go out the back, causing damage only to the engine itself. Some cannot physically be contained, but are designed to be statistically unlikely to ever happen (turbine disks every 10^9 flight hours).

The engine fan actually pulls forward (like a propeller), and under certain settings a detached blade can actually leave the front of the engine. This should be contained by a Kevlar shield around the front part, and this failure is a concern to the NTSB and FAA.

The cowling ahead of the engine is an aerodynamic structure, and is not meant to be strong. As soon as part of the cowling is damaged, wind forces would tend to rip it to pieces.

BTW, the damage may have been caused by something like the anti-icing ductwork, or part of the cowling, rather than the fan blade itself. (That would have been an incredible coincidence, and the force would have gone right through both sides of the aircraft).

Maybe some human did use the wrong bolt to fasten something

Edit: Fan blades are not bolted in, they are held in place by a solid wedge shaped base. The only way they can break is through metal fatigue, which is regularly inspected, and will be the subject of the NTSB investigation. (Birdstrike is possible, but implausible at cruising altitude). The cowling can come loose, but that was not the cause here.

 

[Gordon_R]

The CFM56 is a widely used high-bypass turbofan engine, with plenty of detail available on the internet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFM_International_CFM56

If you look at photos in the article, you can see the large size of the fan relative to the 'jet-engine' core, as well as the protective case around the fan:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CFM56_P1220759.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CFM56_dsc04641.jpg

The complete engine assembly with cowling disguises a lot of the internal structure:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CFM_56_Lauda_737.jpg

 

[Mila]

Interesting about the Geese.

 

[ForceFate]

Absolute impossibility would require the engine to be so heavy that the aircraft never leaves the ground!

There are multiple different rotating parts in a jet engine, some are designed to go out the back, causing damage only to the engine itself. Some cannot physically be contained, but are designed to be statistically unlikely to ever happen (turbine disks every 10^9 flight hours).

The engine fan actually pulls forward (like a propeller), and under certain settings a detached blade can actually leave the front of the engine. This should be contained by a Kevlar shield around the front part, and this failure is a concern to the NTSB and FAA.

The cowling ahead of the engine is an aerodynamic structure, and is not meant to be strong. As soon as part of the cowling is damaged, wind forces would tend to rip it to pieces.

BTW, the damage may have been caused by something like the anti-icing ductwork, or part of the cowling, rather than the fan blade itself. (That would have been an incredible coincidence, and the force would have gone right through both sides of the aircraft).



Edit: Fan blades are not bolted in, they are held in place by a solid wedge shaped base. The only way they can break is through metal fatigue, which is regularly inspected, and will be the subject of the NTSB investigation. (Birdstrike is possible, but implausible at cruising altitude). The cowling can come loose, but that was not the cause here.

http://avherald.com/h?article=4b7725fb&opt=0

In a second media briefing in the late evening the NTSB reported one fan blade, #13 of 24, was broken right at the hub and had separated, the preliminary examination revealed there is evidence of metal fatigue right where the blade separated. There had been no engine fire, there is no evidence of an engine fire, however, it is known there was an engine fire warning, it is possible and even likely the fire wire activated when the fan blade separated. The Captain was a female, the first officer a male, they did an excellent job. The crew elected to land with the flaps at 5 degrees over controllability concerns. A piece of the engine cowling was found on the ground about 60nm northwest of Philadelphia.

It does look like metal fatigue is the likely cause.

 

[pinball wizard]

View attachment 515489

Meh. That will buff right out.

 

[ArtyLoop]

I've always been under the impression that modern jet engines are designed to ensure that it's absolutely impossible for debris to escape the cowling in the case of catastrophic engine failure. Is this correct?

CFM56 is not a Rolls-Royce which is extensively tested for compressor blade failure containment.

 

[Ockie]

CFM56 is not a Rolls-Royce which is extensively tested for compressor blade failure containment.

I believe that certification requirements by the FAA and EASA is the same regardless of the engine manufacturer. It was a RR engine after all that had a uncontained failuire on the Qantas A380.