Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

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ahramin
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by ahramin »

tps8903 wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:19 am I don't know if anyone has listened to the ATC audio. I can't help but notice the speed and pitch of the Captains voice change as the tapes play. Sounds almost hypoxic at the beginning despite hearing what sounds like the O2 masks in the background. Definitely seems more "normal" when on with Philly approach.

What do you guys think?

https://youtu.be/FkVTdvcghHc
That's what it sounds like with the masks on.
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by mbav8r »

On a DH flight yesterday while sitting at row 14, I looked out and had the same view as those pictures, without the damage of course, suddenly my belt wasn’t tight enough. I usually where it pretty snug, yesterday I think I sucked in a bit when I tightened it.
Glad it wasn’t worse.
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by North Shore »

Curious as to why they didn't call in with a 'Mayday' right off the bat? Engine fire/uncontained failure with structural damage and a decompression would be triggering that call in my head. Or am I out to lunch?

(Not criticising here - but if that doesn't trigger a mayday, then what does?)
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by rookiepilot »

mbav8r wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 5:55 pm On a DH flight yesterday while sitting at row 14, I looked out and had the same view as those pictures, without the damage of course, suddenly my belt wasn’t tight enough. I usually where it pretty snug, yesterday I think I sucked in a bit when I tightened it.
Glad it wasn’t worse.
Change seats --- :shock:
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by goingnowherefast »

"Mayday" would have been a great attention grabber, but then again so does saying "engine fire". Both will get emergency priority and all the emergency vehicles available, so the end result is the same.

I suspect they were more concerned about telling ATC they were deviating from the clearance and descending when they were "supposed" to be climbing. They also likely forgot about saying mayday because this isn't something anybody deals with on a regular basis.
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by GyvAir »

Mayday
Quite possible they had declared a mayday in the transmission that ATC couldn't hear properly. "SWA1380, if you're trying to get me, all I hear is static."


NTSB Video showing some of the extent of the damage:

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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by GyvAir »

"Another passenger was said to have positioned his back against the opening in the cabin for 20 minutes and reported feeling severe pressure."
If this is true, he's lucky the cabin wasn't able to/didn't return to a significant differential!

http://www.businessinsider.com/southwes ... ion-2018-4
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by 7ECA »

http://wwwapps3.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/ ... 8-0071.pdf

EASA AD for a lot of CFM engines, as used on 737-600 though -900s.
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by CL-Skadoo! »

GyvAir wrote: Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:11 pm "Another passenger was said to have positioned his back against the opening in the cabin for 20 minutes and reported feeling severe pressure."
If this is true, he's lucky the cabin wasn't able to/didn't return to a significant differential!

http://www.businessinsider.com/southwes ... ion-2018-4
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by ahramin »

North Shore wrote: Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:54 pm Curious as to why they didn't call in with a 'Mayday' right off the bat? Engine fire/uncontained failure with structural damage and a decompression would be triggering that call in my head. Or am I out to lunch?

(Not criticising here - but if that doesn't trigger a mayday, then what does?)
Everywhere else in the world I would agree with you but American's don't really go in for ICAO standard phraseology including Maydays. The normal way to declare an emergency in the US is "declaring an emergency". Mayday Mayday Mayday might seem like a simple way of getting the message across but it's not unheard of for the controller to respond with "Are you declaring an emergency?"
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by Jet Jockey »

ahramin wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:23 am
North Shore wrote: Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:54 pm Curious as to why they didn't call in with a 'Mayday' right off the bat? Engine fire/uncontained failure with structural damage and a decompression would be triggering that call in my head. Or am I out to lunch?

(Not criticising here - but if that doesn't trigger a mayday, then what does?)
Everywhere else in the world I would agree with you but American's don't really go in for ICAO standard phraseology including Maydays. The normal way to declare an emergency in the US is "declaring an emergency". Mayday Mayday Mayday might seem like a simple way of getting the message across but it's not unheard of for the controller to respond with "Are you declaring an emergency?"
The phrase “declaring an emergency” no longer appears in FAA Pilot/Controller Glossary or the FAA 7110. The only method appearing in FAA or ICAO guidance is to declare a distress situation is the use of the word “Mayday” repeated three times. Pilots are cautioned that the use of the phrase “declaring an emergency” is not in compliance with regulatory guidance. (Nov 2017)
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by ahramin »

Better late than never :).
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by cncpc »

I've a long time friend who went on to work as a TSB investigator, then retired into private investigation.

He sent me this and I thought it worth cutting and pasting into this thread.
. . . .about SWA fan blades.
Wow, lots of useful information on the PPRUNE. They have links to the all the radar data and all ATC communication, starting before the event. Amazingly, the fan disk stayed in, as it’s supposed to. One blade missing at 08:30 position. NTSB report visible indications of fatigue failure in the remains of the blade root (what else could it be?). Identifying the origin and initiating mechanism is all that remains. Should only take a few hours in a private lab, or 18-36 months at NTSB lab.

Possible fatigue initiation causes;
• Metallurgical defect at manufacture
• Corrosion pit
• Scratch or other handling damage
• Rogue blade – engineering scatter
• Record keeping error – exceeded cycle life
• Restricted movement in the dovetail attachment
• And a bunch of other possible reasons

However, on the previous SWA CFM56 fan blade failure, the NTSB found this;
• The fracture surface of the missing blade showed curving crack arrest lines consistent with fatigue crack growth. The fatigue crack region was 1.14-inches long and 0.217-inch deep, and
• The center of the fatigue origin area was about 2.1 inches aft of the forward face of the blade root. No surface or material anomalies were noted during an examination of the fatigue crack origin using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy.
I’d bet 100 pipeline protesters that this one will be the same. That is a relatively small fatigue zone - about 5% before rupture.

Apparently the manufacturer recommended this AD inspection a year ago, and Europe complied. However, US FAA balked and did not issue. . . .until after the horse was out of the barn.

The engine is a CFM-56 (GE SAFRAN consortium). All about CFM-56. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFM_International_CFM56

How it works, or "what's inside?" - - https://youtu.be/KjYw0GdRpm0

Here’s how to remove the blades for inspection . . https://youtu.be/V9EJLE9_ELI




Looks of good stuff on this link . . . . http://aerossurance.com/safety-manageme ... lure-b737/

There will be a test . . . .

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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by Heliian »

Let's have a peek at the vibe data. Did it just fail or was there warning signs.

Blade creep possibly.
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by linecrew »

Aircraft is positioning from Philadelphia to Boeing at Everett, WA.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA8700
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by rigpiggy »

I heard a cessna 425 had a window blow out over the rocks this weekend.... anybody have info?
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Re: Southwest uncontained engine failure, window broken, passenger partially sucked out of window... wow

Post by geodoc »

Some interesting facts from the Southwest incident:

SWA1380-DCA18MA142-Investigative-Update.pdf

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Acc ... Update.pdf
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