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Southwest suffers first ever passenger fatality

edited April 2018 in Off-Topic
Today an aircraft part (apparently from a blown engine) penetrated the cabin at altitude, killing a passenger. Very sad. http://www.businessinsider.com/southwest-airlines-engine-failure-terrifying-emergency-landing-2018-4

Overall, Southwest has one of the most impressive safety records in the industry. No fatalities ever among passengers before today to the best of my knowledge since they began service in 1967. (A child on the ground riding in a car was killed when a Southwest jet overshot an icy runway at Chicago’s Midway Airport in December, 2006.)

Not without controversy, the airline was fined heavily by the FAA probably 20-25 years ago for not properly inspecting and maintaining their aircraft fuselages / frames - but no accidents were reported. There have been more recent problems with safety related issues as well. http://consumerist.com/2015/04/01/faa-once-again-fines-southwest-airlines-for-maintenance-related-violations/

The accident comes on the heels of a CBS 60-Minutes program Sunday, April 15, which severely criticized budget airline Allegiant as unsafe and also sharply criticized oversight and enforcement by the FAA. Fair to say the CBS program rocked a few boats - especially among pols. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/allegiant-air-faa-investigation-lawmaker-calls-for-review-live-updates-2018-04-16/

Both Southwest (LUV) and Boeing (BA), which supplies all of their aircraft, are publicly traded companies.

Comments

  • Hank, I knew Jennifer, the one that was killed. She was in charge of community relations for Wells Fargo in New Mexico. She helped fund a few nonprofits I was involved with and there was no nicer person on the planet. She made a huge impact here in New Mexico.
  • edited April 2018
    slick said:

    Hank, I knew Jennifer, the one that was killed. She was in charge of community relations for Wells Fargo in New Mexico. She helped fund a few nonprofits I was involved with and there was no nicer person on the planet. She made a huge impact here in New Mexico.

    @Slick - Thanks for sharing. Sorry for the loss. Your friend sounds like a wonderful person.

    Brings to mind Northwest 255 which crashed right after takeoff from Detroit in ‘87. I knew a terrific young lady that perished who’d been a student of mine only a year or two earlier. Still remember her after all those years. For some reason, those types of losses tend to stay with you.

    Southwest’s distinguished safety record rings a bit hollow in this era of near-100% air safety. Wasn’t the case in the 70s and 80s when horrific accidents seemed to occur once or more every year.

    Regards
  • Safety Margin: "We're right on the edge"

    John Goglia, a former NTSB member, said investigators will take the Southwest engine apart to understand what happened and will look at maintenance records for the engine.

    "There's a ring around the engine that's meant to contain the engine pieces when this happens," Goglia said. "In this case it didn't. That's going to be a big focal point for the NTSB — why didn't (the ring) do its job?"

    "We're pushing the engines to produce as much power as possible," he said. "We're right on the edge. Sometimes they fail, and that's why the containment ring is there."

    Southwest two years ago suffered a similar failure on another CFM56 engine, forcing the plane to land but not resulting in injuries.

    A probe of that incident showed evidence of fatigue cracks in some of the blades. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration last year proposed enhanced inspections of certain CFM engines. It hasn’t yet made the safety fix mandatory.


    • This information was excerpted from articles by Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal. (Emphasis added.)
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • @Maurice, I am so sorry her last moments on earth were so horrific, but she did so many good works while here on earth that no doubt she was rewarded for it after passing. This whole town is upset about this, she was known by everyone and we all loved her. Thanks for passing the link along, even if it was very difficult for me to read it.
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