One dead after engine explodes on Southwest flight

[webfact]

One dead after engine explodes on Southwest flight

By Mark Makela

 

Emergency personnel monitor the damaged engine of Southwest Airlines Flight 1380, which diverted to the Philadelphia International Airport this morning after the airline crew reported damage to one of the aircraft's engines, on a runway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S. April 17, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Makela

 

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - An engine on a Dallas-bound Southwest Airlines <LUV.N> flight with 149 people aboard apparently exploded on Tuesday, forcing an emergency landing in Philadelphia as one passenger was killed and another one was nearly sucked out a window of the plane, the airline and federal officials said.

 

The fatality on the flight from New York was the first in a U.S. commercial aviation accident since 2009, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) statistics.

 

After an engine on the plane's left side blew, it threw off shrapnel, shattering a window and causing cabin depressurization that nearly pulled out a female passenger, according to witness accounts and local news media reports.

 

"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 released on NBC News.

 

Asked by a controller if the jet was on fire, Shults responds it was not but added, "They said there is a hole and someone went out."

"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 NBC's affiliate in Philadelphia.

 

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt told a news briefing in Washington that one person had been killed, but declined to elaborate. The fatality was a passenger, according to Southwest Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly.

 

NO FIRE

"The entire Southwest Airlines Family is devastated and extends its deepest, heartfelt sympathy to the customers, employees, family members and loved ones affected by this tragic event," Southwest said in a statement.

 

Flight 1380 had 144 passengers and five crew members, Sumwalt said.

 

One passenger was taken to the hospital in critical condition, and seven other people were treated for minor injuries at the scene, said Philadelphia Fire Department spokeswoman Kathy Matheson. Matheson could not confirm how the passenger in critical condition sustained her injuries.

 

Sumwalt said the NTSB believes parts came off of the engine but it has not determined if it was an "uncontained engine failure."

 

“There are protection rings around the engine to keep shrapnel from coming out. Even though we believe that there were parts coming out of this engine, it may not have been in that section of the engine that technically would qualify this as an uncontained engine failure,” he said.

"We don't think there was a fire at all," he told the media briefing before departing for Philadelphia.

 

He said the NTSB sees about three or four uncontained engine failures a year, including non-U.S. carriers.

 

'EVERYBODY WAS GOING CRAZY'

Flight 1380 was diverted to Philadelphia after crew members reported damage to an engine, the fuselage and at least one window, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

 

"Everybody was going crazy, and yelling and screaming," passenger Marty 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 <BA.N> 737-700 had ripped away and a window near the engine on the plane's left side was missing.

 

Southwest said the aircraft had been bound for Dallas Love Field in Texas from New York's LaGuardia Airport before it diverted to Philadelphia.

 

"All of a sudden, we heard this loud bang, rattling, it felt like one of the engines went out. The oxygen masks dropped," a passenger, Kristopher Johnson, told CNN. "It just shredded the left-side engine completely. ... It was scary."

 

Southwest shares fell more than 3 percent after the NTSB reported the fatality, then cut losses to close down 1.1 percent at $54.27 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.

 

Boeing said on Twitter that it was aware of the incident and was "gathering more information."

 

The plane's engines are made by CFM International, a French-U.S. venture co-owned by Safran <SAF.PA> and General Electric <GE.N>, which was not immediately available for comment.

 

(Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris, Andrew Hay in New Mexico, David Shepardson in Washington, Alana Wise and Peter Szekeley in New York; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Jonathan Oatis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-18

[lanista]

Obviously a sad day for the family but i am sure that becoming instant -out of court--multi millionaires will help them over their grief.

[nausea]

Aviophobics' nightmare.

[Trouble]

1 hour ago, lanista said:

Obviously a sad day for the family but i am sure that becoming instant -out of court--multi millionaires will help them over their grief.

What an idiotic statement.  

[GinBoy2]

One of reasons these tragic shock us so much, is because they are so rare nowadays.

Unconfined engine failures of this type in today's modern engines, are more than extremely rare, they are almost non-existent.

I just looked it up, as of 2016 there have been manufactured 30,000 of the CFM56, in various variants, and I couldn't find another unconfined failure, indeed even the inflight shutdown rate is only 1 in 333,33 hours....I only wish my truck was as reliable.

Still all very tragic, but now is the time stop the speculation and let the NTSB & CFM do their work

[Basil B]

4 hours ago, lanista said:

Obviously a sad day for the family but i am sure that becoming instant -out of court--multi millionaires will help them over their grief.

The passenger has been named and was an employee of Well Fargo flying on company business, so I am sure the family will be compensated, but no amount of money will bring her back or soften the hurt of all who knew her

[KhunBENQ]

It seems clear that this WAS an "uncontained engine failure" and the findings will do no good to Southwest, the engine maker and those who fly on old planes like this was.

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

Quote

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.

Second such event at Southwest.

Very similar, also a CFM56  engine!

From Aug 2016.

http://avherald.com/h?article=49d2d7e3&opt=0

Edited April 18, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

My worst nightmare scenario as a frequent flier, "what if that engine I'm staring at explodes"?I have already been on a JL plane that filled up with smoke suddenly!

[rosst]

7 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

One of reasons these tragic shock us so much, is because they are so rare nowadays.

Unconfined engine failures of this type in today's modern engines, are more than extremely rare, they are almost non-existent.

I just looked it up, as of 2016 there have been manufactured 30,000 of the CFM56, in various variants, and I couldn't find another unconfined failure, indeed even the inflight shutdown rate is only 1 in 333,33 hours....I only wish my truck was as reliable.

Still all very tragic, but now is the time stop the speculation and let the NTSB & CFM do their work

Excellent post, Condolences to the family and perhaps a good reminder to always keep your safety belt fastened. 

I was on a plane that had a nasty drop from atmospheric conditions and there were injured people everywhere, I was so pleased I had my belt fastened. 

[InfinityandBeyond]

Must applaud the pilot for getting the bird on the ground without further casualties. 

Looking at the damage on the front of the wing this tragedy could have turned into a catastrophe very quickly. 

[ncc1701d]

The age of the aircraft is irrelevant. The engines are swapped out all the time. Could have been brand new, could have been approaching end of life.

 

as pointed out, this has happened before and I’d imagine their engine maintenance department is going to be reamed 

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

I was not engaged with news lately. The pilot is a female senior Captain of Southwest Airlines who is well known as one of the worlds first female JET FIGHTER pilots. She faced discrimination and obviously was the best of the best to be selected The US military has often been criticized for such “ social experimentation” Rubbish! Nerves of steel I’d reckon. Co- pilots in the US are seasoned under senior Captain for years before they are allowed to fly the plane! The result is safety record second to none.

Remember that next time you get on the cheap ticket Asian carrier where the pilot looks like a 22 year old Korean Boy-Band dancer and the cabin crew are selected only for being “pretties”.

[ncc1701d]

4 hours ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

The result is safety record second to none.
 

Whilst I agree with your sentiments, that is factually not true.

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

What country has a better record than US? 1 fatality in 9 years. How many flights aborning in those 9 years in the US?

[theguyfromanotherforum]

4 hours ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

Remember that next time you get on the cheap ticket Asian carrier where the pilot looks like a 22 year old Korean Boy-Band dancer and the cabin crew are selected only for being “pretties”.

 

Ok, but is this really true?

 

I remember being on a cheap Hainan Air flight and they were showing the pilot's 20 year career on seat screens. 

[metisdead]

Off topic trolling posts and the replies have been removed. 

[ncc1701d]

On 4/21/2018 at 7:02 PM, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

What country has a better record than US? 1 fatality in 9 years. How many flights aborning in those 9 years in the US?
 

Without even searching, Australia 

[sirineou]

8 minutes ago, ncc1701d said:

Without even searching, Australia 

Andorra has an even better record

 

[ncc1701d]

3 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Andorra has an even better record

 

 

Found this. http://www.airfleets.net/crash/fatalities_country.htm

 

hong Kong is another one.

 

actually, if we’re only going back 9 years, even Thailand has a better fatality rate from aircraft accidents then USA. 

Edited April 22, 2018 by ncc1701d

[F4UCorsair]

Without even searching, Australia 

Agreed, but compare apples with apples.

The total number of jet transport hours flown in Australia until today is approaching the total number flown in the US until about 1970.

Australia does have a great safety record in the jet age, nevertheless.




Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[sirineou]

13 minutes ago, F4UCorsair said:

Agreed, but compare apples with apples.

The total number of jet transport hours flown in Australia until today is approaching the total number flown in the US until about 1970.

Australia does have a great safety record in the jet age, nevertheless.




Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Same point I was making with my Andorran great airplane record (country has no airport). And not to belittle other countries great record and safety eford  but below is a real time picture of planes over the US and while the incident in the OP is  tragic, it is very rare indeed. 

Edited April 22, 2018 by sirineou

[GinBoy2]

47 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Same point I was making with my Andorran great airplane record (country has no airport). And not to belittle other countries great record and safety eford  but below is a real time picture of planes over the US and while the incident in the OP is  tragic, it is very rare indeed. 

I think trying to compare ‘western’ countries the incidents per nautical miles flown it's almost going to be the same, air travel IS incredibly safe in all developed countries.

 Now we’re not talking various African countries or the caucuses, they are in a league of their own.

 

On the aircraft in flight maps, I love looking at these.

 

I actually pulled one end of last year, for some late night piece of boredom, and was shocked at the number of aircraft in the air at 1am MST. It’s a tribute to modern ATC that they can actually control flight densities 24x7

[sirineou]

1 hour ago, GinBoy2 said:

I think trying to compare ‘western’ countries the incidents per nautical miles flown it's almost going to be the same, air travel IS incredibly safe in all developed countries.

 Now we’re not talking various African countries or the caucuses, they are in a league of their own.

 

On the aircraft in flight maps, I love looking at these.

 

I actually pulled one end of last year, for some late night piece of boredom, and was shocked at the number of aircraft in the air at 1am MST. It’s a tribute to modern ATC that they can actually control flight densities 24x7

 Yes but you will notice in my picture that since I am back to NYC most planes seem to head there. (your picture must be from the time I was in LA)

I hate to see what will happen when I come back to Thailand

Edited April 22, 2018 by sirineou

[watcharacters]

 

 

Hats off to the calm lady pilot.

 

SouthWest is a great Airline.

[watcharacters]

On 4/18/2018 at 8:37 AM, lanista said:

Obviously a sad day for the family but i am sure that becoming instant -out of court--multi millionaires will help them over their grief.

 

 

I find it sad you felt the need to post that.

 

[boomerangutang]

2 hours ago, ncc1701d said:

Found this. http://www.airfleets.net/crash/fatalities_country.htm

hong Kong is another one. actually, if we’re only going back 9 years, even Thailand has a better fatality rate from aircraft accidents then USA. 

Thailand had a tragic event, a number of years ago (I'm too lazy to google it right now).  A Thai pilot was returning from Vietnam with a fully laden passenger plane.  He purposefully put the nose down and crashed, killing all on board incl. himself.  It was found out that he was having money troubles and had, a few days prior, taken out an insurance policy to benefit his family.

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

 
Found this. http://www.airfleets.net/crash/fatalities_country.htm
 
hong Kong is another one.
 
actually, if we’re only going back 9 years, even Thailand has a better fatality rate from aircraft accidents then USA. 

That is an interesting link. Click on some of the entries. For example Guam, an American territory with no airline. 228 deaths!(Caused by Korean Air pilot negligence and failure.)
Based on flight hours flown US safety record is second to none, just as I said before.

[Gulfsailor]

3 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

Thailand had a tragic event, a number of years ago (I'm too lazy to google it right now).  A Thai pilot was returning from Vietnam with a fully laden passenger plane.  He purposefully put the nose down and crashed, killing all on board incl. himself.  It was found out that he was having money troubles and had, a few days prior, taken out an insurance policy to benefit his family.

Either they covered that crash up really well, as I never heard of it, or you are referring to Silk Air 185, which crashed on its way from Jakarta to Singapore, under such circumstances. No Thai involvement though. 

[ncc1701d]

On 4/23/2018 at 1:08 AM, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

That is an interesting link. Click on some of the entries. For example Guam, an American territory with no airline. 228 deaths!(Caused by Korean Air pilot negligence and failure.)
Based on flight hours flown US safety record is second to none, just as I said before.

That’s not what you said before. You said that the reason USA airlines have a safety record second to none was because first officers are seasoned for many years under the senior captains. You just don’t know what you are talking about. Some airlines in the USA have 4 years to command. Most commercial airlines such as BA, Cathay, Emirates etc - at the moment - are anywhere between 8 to 12 years. So the premise isn’t true.

 

I thought you might bring up foreign carriers in operating into USA, but colgan air is American and 49 people perished. Guam doesn’t fall under the USA link.

 

Comparing flight hours per fatality does actually meet the requirements of your claim, so i’ll give you that.

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

6 hours ago, ncc1701d said:

That’s not what you said before. You said that the reason USA airlines have a safety record second to none was because first officers are seasoned for many years under the senior captains. You just don’t know what you are talking about. Some airlines in the USA have 4 years to command. Most commercial airlines such as BA, Cathay, Emirates etc - at the moment - are anywhere between 8 to 12 years. So the premise isn’t true.  

I thought you might bring up foreign carriers in operating into USA, but colgan air is American and 49 people perished. Guam doesn’t fall under the USA link.

 

Comparing flight hours per fatality does actually meet the requirements of your claim, so i’ll give you that. [emoji6]

 

I did’t say the US safety record was BECAUSE of the training of the co-plots. (I think it is a factor, they are also better qualified when hired as most have a military background).

 

The Concorde had a perfect SAFETY record until year 2000 then it was one of the worst. Southwest has been operating for 50 years. They now have 718 planes, no fatalities until this one.

 

A pretty good record I’d reckon. (I don’t like them actually, for other reasons, OK for a short flight only).

 

Nobody heard of Emirates until a few years ago they expanded rapidly backed by UAE oil subsidies and rely on cheap labor. Cathay has been around since WWII, what do they have now about 100 planes? , (only one hub) If they have one accident their safety record won’t be that good on paper even though of course they are a great airline

 

The US the safety record is second to none when assessed via flight hours flown so please don’t worry misrepresenting my posts.

 

The airlines that have 4 years to command are the subtractors such as United Express and Skywest so it is you sir that do not know what you are talking about.

 

How many years to command at United Airlines, American, and Delta? How about Hawaiian?

 

These airlines have younger less experienced pilots. The operate under the umbrella of the US major airlines (where ONLY you find the retired military aviators such as Sully and Captain Tammie Jo Shults.) The average passenger does not know this but these subcontractors operate under the brand of a Major Airlines, website, ticketing , check in, paint schemes. Example American Airlines what advertises 6000+ flights a day (rubbish) Read the small print most departures are operated by American Eagle and other subcontractors. Still, no fatal accidents in US aviation in 9 years!

 

This is a known problem. The last few crashes in the US Industry (such as Colgan yes) have all involved these commuter airlines where pilots were the main cause and thus recently training and rest rules have been changed by the FAA.

 

Even though I don’t care for Unions I have been told it is safer for the industry. These countries airlines where you constantly here of crashes management can intimidate the Pilot into operating broken planes and into bad weather. In the US and EU they have Union rules that protect them for making safety decisions. Look at the Taiwanese and Koreans for example where crashes killed hundreds of people over the past two decades.

 

When Korean Airlines crashed a plane (pure pilot error) killing mostly Koreans on Guam why should that be counted against Guam? That should be counted against the air safety record of the country responsible. The recent shocking crash at was another pilot error of Star-Alliance partner Asiana.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2018 by ChiangMaiLightning2143