Following an accident on Southwest Airlines (SWA) Flight 1380 in April 2018 that resulted in the death of passenger Jennifer Riordan, the National Transportation Safety Board announced the probable cause during a public board meeting held last week. A fractured fan blade from a CFM International CFM-56-7B engine, powering a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, led to the engine inlet and fan cowl separating and subsequently damaging the fuselage, resulting in a rapid cabin depressurization.
NTSB Issues Seven Recommendations After SWA 1380 Accident
Key Takeaways:
- The NTSB determined the probable cause of the fatal Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 accident was a low-cycle fatigue crack in an engine fan blade, which separated and damaged the engine and fuselage, causing rapid cabin depressurization.
- As a result, the NTSB issued seven new safety recommendations to the FAA, EASA, and Southwest Airlines, primarily focused on ensuring the structural integrity of the fan cowl on Boeing 737 next-generation airplanes.
- These recommendations include requiring Boeing to redesign the 737 NG fan cowl structure to withstand fan-blade-out events and expanding certification requirements for collaborative analysis of critical fan blade impact locations across various airframe and engine combinations.
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