Southwest cancels dozens of flights for engine inspections after deadly midair explosion

On Monday, 128 flights were reported canceled, but the company did not detail why.</s>Southwest Airlines cancelled about 40 flights Sunday as the airline stepped up efforts to inspect the engines of its Boeing 737 fleet on the heels of last week’s deadly engine explosion on Flight 1380.

The airline voluntarily announced inspections of engines in the CFM56 family – which powers nearly all of Southwest’s fleet – on Tuesday, after a passenger died when she was partially sucked out of an aircraft window that had been shattered in by the engine blast.

Inspectors now believe that the CFM56-7B jet engine failure occurred when one of the engine’s fan blades broke off and came loose. The mid-air incident forced the New York to Dallas flight to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport. CFM56-7B engines are the most common engines on Boeing 737s, which are the most common commercial aircraft in the world. Southwest’s entire fleet is made up of Boeing 737s.

“Today, we have only canceled about 40 flights due to fan blade inspections out of a planned schedule of almost 4,000 flights. The cancellations are minimal (1% of todays flights),” a Southwest spokesperson told TIME. “We have minimized flight disruptions this past week through actions such as proactive aircraft routings to cover open trips and utilizing spare aircraft, when available.”

Southwest said that the inspections were already scheduled and were not prompted by the Federal Aviation Administration’s order on Friday that “requires operators to inspect fan blades on certain CFM56-7B engines within 20 days.” The airline did, however, acknowledge the FAA’s directive on Twitter.

The announcement that Southwest was already accelerating its inspection process as a precautionary measure was posted by the airline last week: “The accelerated inspections are being performed out of an abundance of caution and are expected to be completed over the next 30 days.”

The FAA’s inspection order applies to CFM56-7B engines, specifically engines with more than 30,000 total cycles from new, the directive reads.

The FAA says that the engine manufacturer “estimates today’s corrective action affects 352 engines in the U.S. and 681 engines worldwide.”</s>ATLANTA - Southwest Airlines said it canceled about 40 flights Sunday as it inspects engine fan blades in the wake of an engine failure last week that led to one passenger’s death.

That’s about 1 percent of Dallas-based Southwest’s daily schedule of nearly 4,000 flights. The airline encouraged passengers to check their flight status. “We anticipate minimal delays or cancellations each day due to the inspections,” Southwest said in a written statement.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has the same type of engines on the Boeing 737s in its fleet and is also adding ultrasonic inspections of the engines, but said it doesn’t expect any operational impact to customers.

Both airlines last week, in advance of the Federal Aviation Administration’s official release of an emergency airworthiness directive, said they would accelerate the inspections.

The FAA on Friday issued the anticipated directive requiring airlines to inspect fan blades on certain engines within 20 days. The directive draws from information gathered in the investigation of Southwest’s engine failure last Tuesday. The FAA said the inspection requirement is estimated to affect 352 engines in the United States and 681 engines worldwide.

The CFM56-7B engine that blew on the Southwest flight showed evidence of “metal fatigue,” according to the National Transportation Safety Board. That engine model is on all of Southwest’s 737-700s and 737-800s, which make up the vast majority of Southwest’s fleet.

Delta has a fleet of about 185 Boeing 737s with the engines, out of a fleet of more than 800 planes of various types.</s>
• Southwest Airlines canceled roughly 40 flights on Sunday as its planes’ engines are inspected using ultrasonic technology.
• The inspections are a result of the failure of a CFM56-7B engine on board Southwest Flight 1380 last Tuesday which resulted in the death of a passenger.
• Southwest Airlines expects to complete inspections on its entire fleet within the next 30 days.

Southwest Airlines canceled about 40 flights on Sunday to free up aircraft for enhanced engine inspections after one of its jets suffered a catastrophic failure that killed a passenger last week.

The cancellations account for roughly 1% of the 4,000 flights scheduled for Sunday, Southwest said in a statement.

According to FlightAware, the Dallas-based airline has canceled nearly 120 flight so far on Monday. It’s unclear how many of those are due to inspections.

“We will continue our work to minimize flight disruptions by performing inspections overnight while aircraft are not flying, and utilizing spare aircraft, when available. We anticipate minimal delays or cancellations each day due to the inspections,” Southwest said in a statement to Business Insider.

Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport last Tuesday after one of the blades on the 737-700’s left engine snapped off mid-flight.

One passenger, Jennifer Riordan, died as a result of the incident. Her death was the first in an accident aboard a US commercial airliner since 2009.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators found evidence of cracking and metal fatigue in the area where the blade failed.

The engine in question, the CFM56-7B turbofan, is the product of a 40-year-old joint venture between GE Aviation and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines called CFM International.

The CFM56 arguably the most popular jet engines in the world with more than 30,000 units produced since 1980 and is used on both civilian and military aircraft. The CFM56-7B debuted in 1997 and currently powers more than 6,700 planes in the world. CFM International is the exclusive engine supplier for the Boeing 737.

Tuesday evening, Southwest Airlines announced that its entire fleet of more than 700 CFM56-powered 737s will be inspected for cracks using ultrasonic devices within the next 30 days.

On Friday, CFM International issued a service bulletin asking for older CFM56-7B engines to undergo ultrasonic inspections. A few hours later, the Federal Aviation Administration followed up with an emergency airworthiness directive (EAD) that requires certain older CFM56-7B engines to be inspected within the next 20 days. The FAA order applies only to engines with more than 30,000 cycles which equates to roughly 20 years of service.

In a statement, Southwest clarified that the cancellations are because of the airline’s own voluntary inspection program and not as a result of the FAA EAD.

Read more about the Southwest incident:
• Southwest passenger’s death was the first in a US passenger airline accident in more than 9 years
• Southwest pilot to air traffic control before emergency landing: ‘There’s a hole and someone went out’
• Southwest passenger says there was ‘blood everywhere’ after ‘terrifying’ emergency landing
• Southwest passenger who died after major engine failure has been identified as a Wells Fargo VP and mother of two
• Investigators found a major clue to what may have caused Southwest jet’s engine failure
• The type of engine that blew apart on Southwest plane was a growing concern for regulators
• The pilot who made the Southwest flight emergency landing is a former fighter pilot and one of the first women to fly an F-18
• Southwest passenger’s torso was sucked out of plane after engine explosion busted open aircraft window
• Southwest reportedly gives passengers who were on fatal flight $5,000 check and a $1,000 travel voucher</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N) canceled more flights on Monday as it worked to complete inspections of engines like the one that failed last week in a deadly accident over Pennsylvania.

Flightaware.com, a website that tracks aviation cancellations, said Southwest canceled 129 flights on Monday, or 3 percent of its total flights, and delayed 468 other flights, or 11 percent. By contrast, other major U.S. carriers had each canceled four or fewer flights on Monday, the website said.

Southwest said the cancellations were the result of the company’s announcement last Tuesday that it would begin voluntarily stepping up inspections of some CFM56-7B engines over the next 30 days. The airline said on Sunday it canceled about 40 flights.

It said on Monday it anticipated “minimal delays or cancellations each day due to the inspections.”

The company added it “will continue our work to minimize flight disruptions by performing inspections overnight while aircraft are not flying, and utilizing spare aircraft, when available.”

The Federal Aviation Administration and European regulators ordered emergency inspections within 20 days of nearly 700 aircraft engines similar to the one involved in the fatal Southwest engine blowout.

Southwest said the cancellations were not a result of the emergency directive. The engine explosion on Southwest flight 1380 on Tuesday was caused by a fan blade that broke off, the FAA said. The blast shattered a window, killing a passenger, in the first U.S. airline passenger fatality since 2009. Southwest has declined to answer questions about its CFM56-7B inspection program, including how many engines were inspected before the accident, and if the engine that failed had been inspected and if the new inspections turned up any problems.

The FAA said on Friday the “unsafe condition” was “likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design.” A Southwest flight in August 2016 made a safe emergency landing in Pensacola, Florida, after a fan blade separated from the same type of engine and debris ripped a hole above the left wing prompting two service bulletins from engine manufacturer CFM International, a joint venture co-owned by General Electric Co (GE.N) and France’s Safran SA (SAF.PA).</s>WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co canceled more flights on Monday as it worked to complete inspections of engines like the one that failed last week in a deadly accident over Pennsylvania.

Flightaware.com, a website that tracks aviation cancellations, said Southwest canceled 129 flights on Monday, or 3 percent of its total flights, and delayed 468 other flights, or 11 percent. By contrast, other major U.S. carriers had each canceled four or fewer flights on Monday, the website said.

Southwest said the cancellations were the result of the company´s announcement last Tuesday that it would begin voluntarily stepping up inspections of some CFM56-7B engines over the next 30 days. The airline said on Sunday it canceled about 40 flights.

It said on Monday it anticipated "minimal delays or cancellations each day due to the inspections."

The company added it "will continue our work to minimize flight disruptions by performing inspections overnight while aircraft are not flying, and utilizing spare aircraft, when available."

Late on Monday, Representative Bill Shuster, chairman of the U.S. House Transportation Committee, introduced an amendment to a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration that would require regulators to ensure airline engine safety and report to Congress.

The measure would bring airlines, manufacturers, regulators and others "together to share best practices and implement actions to address airline engine safety" and require a review of regulations, guidance, and directives related to airline engine operation. The House is expected to vote on a bill to reauthorize the FAA later this week.

The FAA and European regulators on Friday ordered emergency inspections within 20 days of nearly 700 aircraft engines similar to the one involved in the fatal Southwest engine blowout.

Southwest said the cancellations were not a result of the emergency directive.

The engine explosion on Southwest flight 1380 on Tuesday was caused by a fan blade that broke off, the FAA said. The blast shattered a window, killing a passenger, in the first U.S. airline passenger fatality since 2009.

Southwest has declined to answer questions about its CFM56-7B inspection program, including how many engines were inspected before the accident, and if the engine that failed had been inspected and if the new inspections turned up any problems.

A Southwest flight in August 2016 made a safe emergency landing in Florida, after a fan blade separated from the same type of engine and debris ripped a hole above the left wing prompting two service bulletins from engine manufacturer CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co and France´s Safran SA. (Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Peter Cooney)</s>NEW YORK: Southwest Airlines Co said it cancelled about 40 flights on Sunday (Apr 22), or one per cent of those scheduled, as it inspects engines after last week’s deadly accident in Pennsylvania.

The airline said the cancellations were the result of the company’s announcement on Tuesday that it would over the next 30 days begin inspecting other CFM56-7B engines, manufactured by CFM International, the engine involved in last week's accident.

At the time, Southwest said those inspections would cause some impact on operations, but it has not said how many engines it planned to inspect.

On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration and European airline regulators ordered emergency inspections within 20 days of nearly 700 aircraft engines similar to the one involved in a fatal Southwest engine blowout earlier this week.

The engine explosion on Southwest Flight 1380 on Tuesday was caused by a fan blade that broke off, the FAA said. The blast shattered a window, killing a passenger, in the first US passenger airline fatality since 2009.

Southwest has declined to answer questions about its CFM56-7B inspection programme, including how many engines were inspected prior to the accident and if the engine that failed had been inspected.

A Southwest flight in August 2016 with a CFM56-7B engine made a safe emergency landing in Pensacola, Florida, after a fan blade separated and debris ripped a hole above the left wing.

After that incident, the European agency gave airlines nine months to check engines. US regulators were still were considering what to do after proposing some checks.</s>
• Europe orders emergency inspections of the type of engine that malfunctioned on a Southwest Airlines flight this week.
• Planes with the CFM56-7B engine must be inspected in the next 20 days if the engine has been in service for around 20 years.
• Some 352 engines in the US and 681 engines worldwide are eligible for emergency inspections.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has joined US authorities in ordering an emergency inspection of the type of engine that malfunctioned on a Southwest Airlines flight this week to deadly effect.

In a statement on Saturday, EASA ordered investigations of CFM56-7B enginesafter a fan blade on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 snapped off mid-flight, spraying shrapnel that punctured the aircraft's fuselage causing depressurization. Passenger Jennifer Riordan was killed.

It is an expansion of a previous EASA directive in 2016, issued for inspections on the same engine. Engines that contain fan blades that have completed more than 30,000 "cycles," or have been in service for around 20 years, must be inspected in the next 20 days, according to EASA.

Similar tests are being carried out in the US. America's Federal Aviation Administration said it expects 352 engines in the US and 681 engines worldwide to be eligible for emergency inspections.

The CFM56-7B debuted in 1997 and currently powers more than 6,700 planes in the world. It is the product of a 40-year-old joint venture between GE Aviation and France's Safran Aircraft Engines called CFM International.

Several major airline officials said the order will primarily impact airlines with higher utilisation of aircraft covering shorter routes like Southwest, according to Reuters.</s>Southwest Airlines says it has canceled roughly 1 percent of its scheduled flights as it carries out inspections prompted by an engine failure that led to a passenger’s death last week. About 40 flights were affected.

The affected Southwest Boeing 737 took off Tuesday morning from New York, headed for Dallas. About 20 minutes into the flight, at about 32,500 feet, a fan blade broke off the engine and shrapnel shattered a window.

Jennifer Riordan, 43, and a mother of two, was almost sucked out of the broken window and pulled back inside by fellow passengers. She died from blunt force trauma at a hospital after the plane’s emergency landing in Philadelphia.

After the incident, Southwest Airlines said it was accelerating its existing engine inspection program relating to the CFM56 engine family “out of an abundance of caution” over the following 30 days.

In a statement Sunday it said that its flight cancellations had been minimal.

“We have minimized flight disruptions this past week through actions such as proactive aircraft routings to cover open trips, performing inspections overnight, and utilizing spare aircraft, when available. On Sunday, we only canceled about 40 flights due to fan blade inspections out of a planned schedule of almost 4,000 flights,” the airline said.

Southwest said its cancellations were the result of a “voluntary, accelerated engine fan blade inspection program” rather than inspections ordered by US and European aviation authorities. It recommended customers check their flights’ status on its website.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) each issued an emergency airworthiness directive on Friday requiring airlines to perform an ultrasonic inspection of certain CFM56-7B engines within 20 days.

The FAA and EASA directives came on the same day that the engine manufacturer, CFM International, issued a service bulletin recommending the CFM56-7B engine be inspected more frequently.

“CFM recommends ultrasonic inspections within the next 20 days to fan blades of CFM56-7B engines with more than 30,000 cycles since new,” it said. “Also, it recommends inspections by the end of August for fan blades with 20,000 cycles, and inspections to all other fan blades when they reach 20,000 cycles.”

After reaching a certain age, the engines should be inspected approximately every two years, the manufacturer said.

According to CFM International, about 680 engines will be impacted by the order to inspect engines with more than 30,000 cycles within the next 20 days. More than 150 of those have already been checked by operators, it said.

Another 2,500 engines will be impacted by the recommendation to inspect fan blades with 20,000 cycles by the end of August, CFM International said. A jet engine cycle comprises an engine start, takeoff and landing, and full shut down.

“The inspection, conducted on-wing with an ultrasonic probe along the surface of the fan blade, takes about four hours per engine,” the manufacturer said.

US federal safety investigators have said the naked eye cannot detect the cracks and signs of metal fatigue that doomed the engine on Southwest Flight 1380.</s>Dozens of Southwest Airlines flights were canceled on Sunday due to blade inspection, following the tragic engine explosion on Flight 1380 last week, which left one passenger dead.

In an email to Southwest confirmed that overall there were about 40 cancellations out of nearly 4,000 flights on Sunday.

Southwest also explained that the cancellations were due to their “voluntary, accelerated engine fan blade inspection program” announced on Tuesday, and not because of the Federal Aviation Administration orders issued on Friday night.

The emergency directive applies to “owners and operators of CFM International S.A. (CFM) Model CFM56-7B engines,” and includes engines that have been flown 30,000 or more flight cycles. The order stipulates that effective immediately, operators have 20 days to “perform a one-time ultrasonic inspection (USI) of all 24 fan blade dovetail concave and convex sides to detect cracking.” In a service bulletin issued on Friday, CMF also recommended that engines with 20,000 flight cycles be inspected by August.

CFM International is a joint venture between GE and the French company Safran Aircraft Engines, and CFM56-7B engines are among the most common commercial aircraft engines in the world. It is estimated that in the U.S. 352 engines will be impacted by the FAA’s directive. The European Aviation Safety Agency is also adopting a similar policy. There are 681 engines that could be impacted worldwide.

Some 8,000 Boeing 737s – including nearly all of Southwest’s fleet – fly CFM56-7B engines.

This FAA directive comes after Tuesday’s deadly engine explosion on a Southwest Airlines flight from New York to Dallas. The pilot had to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia after the plane experienced “engine failure due to a fractured fan blade, resulting in the engine inlet cowl disintegrating,” according to the FAA.

Jennifer Riordan, an executive at Wells Fargo and mother of two, was partially sucked out of the plane after debris from the explosion cracked the fuselage, she later died in a hospital in Philadelphia.
Southwest Airlines cancels 128 flights in addition to 40 cancelled yesterday as it inspects the CFM56-7B engines mounted to its Boeing 737 fleet following a fatal accident.