AFTER FATAL IN-FLIGHT FAILURE, SAFETY INVESTIGATORS ZERO IN ON CFM56-7B FAN BLADE AND COWLING
WASHINGTON -- The cause of an in-flight catastrophic failure of a CFM56-7B mounted on a Southwest Airlines 737-700 that killed one passenger is still under investigation, but early clues indicate that one of the fan blades broke loose and ruptured the cowling of the engine, possibly allowing debris to penetrate the jet's left wing and cabin.
The cowling is designed to contain parts of the engine after a failure, and the loss of a single blade inside the engine shouldn't have been able to cause as much damage as it did, said one former National Transportation Safety Board investigator quoted by the Wall Street Journal. Parts of the shattered engine cowling were later found scattered across the ground underneath the airliner's route by members of the public.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced late on April 18 that it will order enhanced inspections of some CFM56 engines mounted on Boeing 737s. It also plans to issue a new directive that will require ultrasound inspections of fan blades once they have been used during a certain number of cycles.
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