US aviation officials have ordered the inspection of some 220 jet engines after investigators said a broken fan blade caused an engine to explode on a Southwest Airlines flight, shattering a window and killing a passenger.
The order will require an ultrasonic inspection within the next six months of the fan blades on all CFM56-7B engines that have accrued a certain number of takeoffs.
The CFM56 engine on Southwest flight 1380 blew apart over Pennsylvania on Tuesday, about 20 minutes after the Dallas-bound flight left New York’s LaGuardia Airport with 149 people on board.
The explosion sent shrapnel ripping into the fuselage of the Boeing 737-700 plane and shattered a window.
Bank executive Jennifer Riordan, 43, was killed when she was partially pulled through a gaping hole next to her seat in row 14 as the cabin suffered rapid decompression.
Fellow passengers were able to pull her back inside but she died of her injuries later on Tuesday.
Philadelphia's medical examiner ruled that the cause of death was blunt trauma to the head, neck and torso, and ruled the death an accident, spokesman Jim Garrow said.
"As captain and first officer of the crew of five who worked to serve our customers aboard Flight 1380 yesterday, we all feel we were simply doing our jobs. Our hearts are heavy," Captain Tammie Jo Shults and First Officer Darren Ellisor said in a written statement released by the airline.
Ms Shults and Mr Ellisor said they were focused on working with investigators and would not be speaking to the media.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt told a news conference that the incident began when one of the engine’s 24 fan blades snapped off from its hub.
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Mr Sumwalt said investigators found that the blade had suffered metal fatigue at the site of the break.
He said he could not yet say if the incident, the first deadly airline accident in the United States since 2009, pointed to a fleet-wide issue in the Boeing 737-700.
