Lux Flyer

Just a very cursory analysis, but since 2009, there have been 5 notable decompression events among US carriers. 3 have occurred on Southwest planes, 1 on Allegiant, 1 on Envoy dba Delta connection (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncont..._decompression). I'm no statistician, but DL/UA/AA combined have far more flights & planes, yet none of these events. The possibilities I see are:

• the 737 has some underlying engineering defect, but then we should see similar failures on 737s of other carriers
• Southwest has some darn awful luck, having these events occur to them
• Southwest has some issues with maintenance not properly taking care of their fleet

Yes, sometimes stuff happens, but why are these events occurring more often on Southwest than other US airlines.

jk88usa

Gotta agree here. Looking through a search of AvHerald shows there are numerous frequent losses of cabin pressure on Southwest specific airliners that obviously rarely ever make the news. I haven't looked at other carriers, but the amount of incidents attributable to loss of cabin pressure, engine problems, and other mechanical related incidents is quite large compared to what I would expect to see...maybe I'm wrong, but it seems high. (Note: many of the extra cases aren't "Southwest" aircraft, when one searches AvHerald for Southwest Airlines, it pulls up any incident with the words "southwest" and "airline" in it which includes direction from airport, etc. Also, that obviously there are things like Bird Strikes and Tail Strikes included as well which isn't relevant)

The Aviation Herald

The FAA also seems to have slapped more fines on WN than anybody else...though somehow not G4 after that damning report on 60 minutes. The 300s clearly were responsible for many of the issues, but as some of their 700s get to the latter stages of their lifespan, they seem to be having their fair share of troubles.

LegalTender

Way too speculative.

The engine in question had had 40,000 cycles. It's flown 10,000 cycles since its last overhaul.

Others can weigh in on whether these intervals are industry norms.

fly18725

jk88usa

I won't lead anybody to conclusions...but here is a great presentation about CFM Engines and life cycles/overhauls. Particularly slides 37+

https://airfinancejournal.com/docs/e...nganengine.pdf

10000 isn't inordinately high, but the older an engine, the more often it needs to come in as CFM describes (CFM says the length should be .6x-.7x the original length before first overhaul as its life goes on). Would be interested to see how often this puppy was overhauled in the past, as I'm sure NTSB will delve into.

Also of note: NTSB noted in their press conference that a blade is missing (which can be confirmed in footage/pics they have posted), and the NTSB guy at the press conference even said there were signs of metal fatigue... it will be interesting to see where the fault lies in not catching that if true

tahitigirl

Probably should have listened to the safety info and covered his NOSE and mouth with the H2O mask. Just sayin.

texashoser

These turbo-fan engines are made by CFM. In both incidents it appears a fan blade separated (not the internal compressor or turbine blades). There a number of things that should be looked at. Is there a fundamental design or manufacturing flaw, was there a bad batch of metal, was Southwest performing the proper inspections and/or maintenance, and is there any inspection process that could determine unacceptable metal fatigue?

I'm going to let the investigation play out before I make any wild guesses.

DenverBrian

Even if only your head goes out the window of a plane going 500 mph at 32,000 feet, you're likely dead. Your head is entering a 500-mph wind. Your neck would likely break in an instant. This isn't sticking your head out the window of a car on the highway. @:-)

ACCDraw

My most sincere condolences to family and friends of Jennifer Riordan.

Woman killed in jetliner explosion was from Albuquerque - KRQE

par38lamp

Did anyone else's flights (after the accident) today have their WiFi disabled?

Both my flights (STL to DAL and DAL to IND) had the wifi disabled.
1st leg, the AP was turned off (no wifi signal). 2nd leg, there was wifi signal, but the FA announced there was no wifi available.

Would of been nice to communicate in air with my spouse, as she didn't know my itinerary today.

RussianTexan

Someone on another forum had posted this and I wanted to repost it here. The effects of being sucked out through the window are, in a word, horrifying.

"That pretty much is a 100% fatal event. When this happens you are sucked out though a window in about half a second that you normally could not force yourself out of even if you tried very hard. So it is breaking shoulders, clavicles, arms and probably some ribs and maybe even her neck just doing that. Now the top half of her body is suddenly in 500 mph wind. The force on this of a body stuck there is almost impossible to imagine. The wind has enough force to tear exposed skin. Her arms would suddenly flail so hard the would be shattered in several places. It is almost certain her neck would have been broken. Eye lids could be torn and her jaw dislocated just form the force of he wind. Not to mention the air doing all that is about -30F degrees and can freeze her skin in seconds. I am sure that just to get her back in took a few people pulling on her like hell."

seawolf

Did you hear/see any safety info in the Facebook recording posted?

ijgordon

That was the first thing I noticed about the video/screen cap also. :-/ But to be fair, the woman behind him had it on the same way...

raehl311

Seatbelts are also designed to keep you from breaking your neck on the cabin ceiling in turbulence, not necessarily keep you entirely in the plane if the window right next to you blows out.

For all we know the seatbelt was all that kept her from being completely sucked out of the plane in the first place. It's certainly possible if your cabin window fails for you to be both in your seat and partially sucked into the now-open window.

the phoenix

I’m always curious to read if any FTers were on such an flight.

News tonight reports the the plane was just inspected on 4-15. Hopefully the NTSB does not find any issue that relates to that.

May she RIP