The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently issued an update on its investigation of the April 17 fatal engine failure on Southwest Airlines flight 1380.
The engine fan blade failed, causing the loss of the engine inlet and cowling. Fragments from these parts struck the fuselage and caused rapid depressurization. One passenger was fatally injured and eight others suffered minor injuries.
The fan blades were last overhauled in November 2012, according to the aircraft’s maintenance records, the NTSB revised report said. This was 10,712 engine cycles before the accident. In addition, the engine fan blade dovetails had been lubricated six times since November 2012. At each lubrication, the fan blade dovetail was visually inspected.
The NTSB update also includes interviews with Flight 1380’s captain, co-captain, three of its flight attendants, and a Southwest employee who was in the cabin.
“During interviews, the flight crew stated the climbout from LaGuardia was normal with no indications of any problems; the first officer was the pilot flying and the captain was the pilot monitoring,” an NTSB release stated. “They reported experiencing a sudden change in cabin pressure, aircraft yaw, cockpit alarms, and a ‘gray puff of smoke.’”
NTSB’s cockpit voice recorder group has finished its draft transcript of the accident.