In the wake of an in-flight engine failure that killed a Southwest Airlines passenger, the carrier has started ultrasonic engine inspections covering virtually its entire fleet of more than 700 planes.
The Dallas-based carrier canceled 40 flights over the weekend as it moved to conduct the inspections of the fan blades on all of its CFM56 engines over the next 30 days, exceeding the requirement of a Federal Aviation Administration order last week.
The accident took place when an engine fan blade fractured, sending shrapnel into the fuselage, killing Jennifer Riordan, a bank executive and mother of two from New Mexico. The flight from New York to Dallas made an emergency landing in Philadelphia. It was the first fatality of a passenger in Southwest's 51-year history and the first passenger to die in a U.S.-based carrier in nine years.
The FAA and CFM International, the manufacturer of the CFM56 engines, both called on Friday for ultrasonic inspections within 20 days of engines with at least 30,000 cycles _ or takeoffs and landings. Such engines typically are about 20 years old and the FAA said its order would apply to 352 engines on planes flown in the U.S. and 681 engines flown worldwide by various carriers.
Southwest said it will go beyond the FAA requirement and will inspect all of the roughly 700 Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 model Southwest planes that are installed with CFM56 engines. Only about a dozen planes in the Southwest fleet will not need to be inspected because they don't use CFM engines.
The ultrasonic inspections will focus on the fan blades because inspectors suspect the cause of the accident was metal fatigue, which cannot necessarily be detected visually. Southwest experienced a similar engine failure on the same model engine two years ago, forcing an emergency landing.
CFM International said the inspection is conducted with the engine on the wing and takes about four hours per engine. Southwest said it was doing what it could to prevent delays and cancellations.
"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," the airline said in a statement, adding that the canceled flights on Sunday represented roughly 1 percent of all scheduled flights.
CFM International is a joint venture of GE and Safran Aircraft Engines of France.
