- 6 days ago
Air Crash Investigation Series S21E05 Cabin Catastrophe
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00:00this flight became a life-threatening crisis in seconds an explosion rock
00:11Southwest flight 1380 the vibration was so severe I was not able to see any of
00:19the instruments throughout the airplane it was just screams of terror the cabin
00:27depressurizes I could feel the air being sucked out of my lungs everything
00:34became very very hot and very very cold at the same time as the pilots fight to
00:39regain control of their airplane you still got it flight attendants make a
00:45horrifying discovery
00:52southwest
01:08Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 is boarding for a trip to Dallas, Texas.
01:28Andrew Needham is a firefighter and paramedic on his way home after a family vacation in New York City.
01:34We took a trip kind of as a year-end to the completion of my paramedic certification school,
01:41and so we decided that it would be a family getaway.
01:45Row 14, just on the right.
01:47Jennifer Reardon is returning home from a business trip to New York.
01:53144 passengers settle in to this sold-out flight.
01:57In the cockpit, the flight crew prepares the Boeing 737 for departure.
02:09Let's start the pre-flight procedures.
02:12I'm on it.
02:13Captain Tammy Jo Schultz has been flying 737s for 24 years.
02:18When we're bound.
02:19She's no ordinary flight commander.
02:24Tammy Jo Schultz.
02:26She is a formal naval aviator, flew during the Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm,
02:32and also flew aerial firefighting aircraft before joining Southwest.
02:38First Officer Darren Ellesaw has been with Southwest for 10 years.
02:43He's a former Air Force major.
02:45I love to fly.
02:49We get to see the most amazing sights and be in a different place every time you go fly.
02:57Your leg?
02:59This one's mine.
03:01It's the second day of a four-day pairing for the crew.
03:05First Officer Ellesaw will be the pilot flying this leg.
03:07I was starting my day in the cockpit, ready to go fly.
03:13It was a beautiful day in LaGuardia, actually.
03:16The weather was fantastic.
03:19The crew flew in earlier today from Nashville.
03:22The four-hour trip to Dallas will be their second and final flight of the day.
03:31Flight attendant Rachel Fernheimer started with Southwest Airlines just two years ago.
03:36I love my job.
03:39I would have to say it's the people.
03:42My favorite thing is to just kind of just be there for them and talk them through what they need me to,
03:46or even just to have a laugh with them or cry with them.
03:51Rachel is working with her colleague Shanique Mallory.
03:54At 10.42 a.m., flight 1380 takes off on time.
04:12B-1.
04:15Rotate.
04:15Two turbofan engines power the Boeing 737 into the sky.
04:26The airplane was almost to maximum weight.
04:31The gas tanks were near full capacity.
04:35And when you're in a heavy airplane, it does affect your performance.
04:38It makes the airplane less responsive.
04:43As flight 1380 climbs to cruising altitude,
04:47controllers at LaGuardia hand the flight over to New York area controllers.
04:52Southwest 1380, contact New York Center, 133.47.
04:57Copy that, 1380.
04:5820 minutes after take-off.
05:16Everything changed.
05:19What the...
05:20We had a very large bang.
05:25We had multiple warnings going off in the cockpit and a very severe vibration throughout the entire plane.
05:36This flight went from being an absolutely routine flight into Dallas into a life-threatening crisis in seconds.
05:47The plane depressurizes.
05:49I could feel the air being sucked out of my lungs.
05:54Immediately, it was very disorienting.
05:59It was something that I've never had in my entire flying career.
06:05First Officer Ellis Orr struggles to control the aircraft as it banks steeply to the left.
06:11I immediately grabbed the yoke to stop the roll.
06:15You still got it!
06:16I was not able to see any of the instruments because the vibration was so severe.
06:25It was just a blur of colors.
06:28And so I can't see anything.
06:33Still got it!
06:34Luckily, it was a clear day, a very clear horizon.
06:38And I was able to roll out of the bank and recover the airplane.
06:41Okay, wings are back to level.
06:46You're looking good.
06:48At 32,000 feet, the pilots need to determine what's wrong with their plane.
06:54There's a lot of vibration.
06:56The climb rate decreases.
06:58The engine RPM was rolling back.
07:00They very quickly knew that they had an engine problem.
07:05Emergency descent!
07:06First Officer Ellis Orr reduces engine power and begins a steep descent.
07:13I know that we have a pressurization problem.
07:15I know we have some sort of engine problem.
07:18I don't know what else is going on, but I know we need to start on our way down.
07:25Southwest 1380 has an engine fire and is descending.
07:28Captain Schultz updates New York air traffic control.
07:32Smoke in the cockpit could indicate an engine fire.
07:37Tammy Jo thought it was smoke.
07:39I did not think it was smoke at the time.
07:41Explosive decompression causes a condensation in the air, which basically looks like a fog.
07:48All right, Southwest 1380.
07:50Okay, where would you like to go?
07:51To which airport?
07:53Give us a vector to your nearest airfield.
07:56We knew we needed to land the airplane as soon as practical.
08:02I looked on my map display and saw two airfield circles that were very close,
08:10except they were very small airports.
08:13They may not have the appropriate fire and rescue crews there.
08:20They may not have a long enough runway for us.
08:22First officer Elisor sees another option 70 miles away.
08:30It's an airport he knows well.
08:31I just pointed on my map to Philadelphia, and she saw it immediately.
08:40Philadelphia!
08:41Flight 1380 is now falling fast.
08:49Unsure of what's wrong with their aircraft, the pilots update the passengers.
08:55Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain.
08:58We're going into Philadelphia.
09:01Remain seated.
09:04Tell you what, I'm going to take it.
09:06All right.
09:06As commander of the flight, Captain Schultz takes control.
09:11Whatever she told me to do, I was going to do.
09:14She wanted to fly and wanted me to run the checklist, and I was fine with that.
09:19First officer Elisor begins checklists for a severe engine failure or fire.
09:24The problem engine, engine one on the left side, must be shut down before it can do any more damage.
09:31Autothrottle.
09:32If engaged, disengage.
09:34That checklist calls for multiple steps.
09:38Disengaged.
09:40You retard the throttle for the affected engine, and then you have a fire warning switch, which you will pull.
09:49It's too easy to have something get overlooked in an emergency.
09:54Checklists are designed to be very efficient, also ensure that the airplane remains in a safe state.
10:02Flight 1380 is 10 minutes away from Philadelphia International Airport and closing fast.
10:09Controllers in Philadelphia try to guide the flight to safety.
10:13What's up, Miss 1380?
10:14Are you coming right in or extended final?
10:16As the plane drops below 10,000 feet, the crew no longer needs oxygen masks to breathe.
10:27Extended final.
10:28The captain requests a longer approach, so she and Elisor have time to finish their checklists.
10:34We've got a couple of checklists to run.
10:37I want to talk to the girls as well.
10:38We don't know what happened back there.
10:40You go talk to the girls.
10:41I've got everything here.
10:44You guys there?
10:45Hello?
10:46I rang the flight attendants and I didn't get any answer.
10:55I didn't know what was going on back there.
10:58I got no replies in the back.
11:00I'm really starting to get worried, and I was so concerned that I was ready to get up to see what's going on back there.
11:09Before First Officer Elisor can investigate, there's a call from the cabin.
11:15Hello?
11:16The window is open if somebody is out the window.
11:19Flight 1380 is just 20 minutes into a four-hour flight from New York to Dallas, Texas.
11:37There's a very, very loud noise that is repeating over and over again, like a big, loud pounding of the aircraft.
11:54I didn't know what was happening.
11:56It was metal on metal, shearing, grinding, a noise that I hope I never have to hear again.
12:03I didn't know if it was going to be heavy turbulence, if it was something wrong with the plane, and I knew that something was not right.
12:11The cabin is rapidly decompressing as the pressurized air inside the cabin rushes to escape to the low-pressure atmosphere outside.
12:21What happens is the air in your lungs gets pulled out as well, so you exhale a lot, and it's very surprising to you.
12:31Passengers and crew need oxygen masks to help them breathe.
12:35One passenger uses his phone to film the chaos in the cabin.
12:39It was just screams of terror throughout the cabin of the airplane.
12:45The noise was just immense.
12:48The shaking was violent.
12:51What's happening?
12:52Jump seats!
12:53I see Shanique.
12:54I didn't have time to really take a moment to look around before I was telling her to quickly take the jump seat.
13:02My eyes got very heavy.
13:05Everything became very, very hot, then very, very cold at the same time.
13:10As the warm air that the airplane was making is evacuated, and the fact that it's now 50 below zero outside, it gets very cold very, very quickly.
13:20I could just feel a lack of oxygen surrounding me.
13:25You just have to make sure that you are getting oxygen.
13:28I was able to take my first good breath of oxygen before going out into the cabin without even thinking.
13:37The cabin crew checks on the passengers row by row.
13:42It's so noisy that it's nearly impossible to communicate.
13:45I looked every single one of them in the eye, and I just said, you're going to be okay.
13:52We are going to make it.
13:54I'm here.
13:55And at that point, we didn't even know if that was true.
13:59At row 14, the flight attendant is stopped cold.
14:03We had a passenger that was partially out of the aircraft.
14:12Her seat belt was the only thing that was holding her into the plane at that point, because everything from the waist up was outside of the plane.
14:20We're going to do it.
14:20When an aircraft depressurizes, all of that air is going to come out this now hole that was a window in the side of the airplane, and it's an immense amount of force.
14:33We're going to be okay.
14:34Passenger Jennifer Reardon has been pulled partway out of the plane.
14:39I was trying to pull Jennifer back into the plane.
14:43I remember saying it loud, it's okay.
14:46We have you.
14:48You're going to be okay.
14:49I just wanted her to somehow know that we were with her.
14:54It's okay.
14:55It's okay.
14:56You're going to be okay.
14:57Help me!
15:02Passenger Andrew Needham, a firefighter and paramedic, acts instinctively.
15:07The thought process that was going through my head was that there was a passenger in need, and I was there to provide assistance.
15:13Andrew Needham joins fellow passenger Tim McGinty in the struggle to pull Jennifer Reardon in.
15:20My immediate reaction was to just reach in and grab for whatever I could, and I was able to grab onto Mrs. Reardon's pants.
15:30I was unable to get any leverage.
15:32As passengers struggle to save Jennifer Reardon, the pilots are unaware of what's happening in the cabin.
15:39You guys there? Hello?
15:41Hello?
15:45They were actually trying to call us, but we were unable to hear that they were trying to do so.
15:51I got no reply from the back.
15:53Finally, flight attendant Shanique Mallory tries to make contact with the pilots.
16:00Hello?
16:01A window is open, and somebody is out the window.
16:05Everything pretty much just stopped.
16:12It's not something that you're prepared to hear at all.
16:17Tammy Jo and I just looked at each other in basically shock and disbelief.
16:23Okay, we're coming down.
16:26The life of a passenger is in grave danger.
16:30You want the airplane on the ground, you want it stopped, and you want medical people on board to help.
16:35The pilots must get flight 1380 on the ground as soon as possible.
16:436,000 feet over Pennsylvania, southwest flight 1380 has lost its left engine and suffered a rapid decompression.
16:53Is everyone else still in their seats strapped down?
16:57Everybody is still in their seats.
16:59But now, the pilots face another terrifying problem.
17:04We've tried to help get her in.
17:07I don't know what her situation is.
17:11The window is completely out.
17:13Passengers are still struggling to pull Jennifer Reardon inside the cabin.
17:20We were pulling with everything we had.
17:24We weren't getting anywhere.
17:27The big factor for the passenger was that they went into very high energy air.
17:32It's a 300-plus mile an hour wind.
17:34They would be subjected to brutal forces.
17:37Slow it down to 210 knots right now.
17:42In the cockpit, First Officer Ellesaw has thought of a way he can help with Reardon's rescue.
17:49I turned to Tammy Jo, and I said we need to slow down to 210 knots.
17:55I knew that the speed of the aircraft was actually the thing that was preventing the people in the back from getting that passenger back in the plane.
18:09We got her!
18:12We got her!
18:14First Officer Ellesaw's hunch pays off.
18:17The slower speed allows rescuers to pull the passenger back in.
18:21The pilots reduced speed, and it was only at that point where we were able to pull her back in.
18:31Jennifer Reardon's condition is dying.
18:35There was no signs of life.
18:39I felt for a pulse and started chest compressions.
18:46It was never a sense of, is she still with us?
18:50It was a, she's with us, what can we continue to do to try to keep it this way?
18:59Let's get her turned in.
19:01The pilots are doing everything they can to save Reardon.
19:07Philadelphia Airport is still 30 miles away.
19:11We knew that we needed to get on the ground as fast as we could.
19:16Everything was time critical.
19:20I see a lady come help us, a nurse, and Andrew, who is a EMT and firefighter, was starting to do compressions.
19:34I knew that they were able to handle the situation.
19:36Can we have medical me to set the runway?
19:39We have injured passengers.
19:41Injured passengers, okay.
19:43And is your plane physically on fire?
19:45No, it's not on fire.
19:47But parts of it are missing.
19:48They say there's a hole and someone went out.
19:53Sorry, there was a hole and someone went out?
19:56Yes.
19:58Southwest 1380, it doesn't matter.
20:00We'll work it out there.
20:02The airport's just off to your right.
20:08Flight 1380 descends to 3,000 feet.
20:12All right, set flaps to five.
20:14Still 20 miles away from the airport, the pilots prepare for landing.
20:18You fly at a higher speed with flaps five.
20:23She had less drag and less lift being produced out of the flaps.
20:28As an ex-fighter pilot, Captain Schultz knows how speed will give her more control.
20:33The captain elected to use a reduced flap setting and a higher approach speed so that she was guaranteed, in her mind, a higher level of controllability.
20:46Flaps five, are you sure?
20:48How about just 15?
20:50Tammy Jo initially asked for a flaps five landing.
20:54I question this because a flaps 15 landing is what we normally would do in a single-engine situation.
21:03The captain is the final authority.
21:06She had been flying the airplane, so she knew how the airplane felt.
21:10And so she said, well, we're going to land with flaps five.
21:13Give me a speed for flaps five.
21:14148.
21:16There's no guidance in the manuals for a flaps five single-engine landing.
21:21The pilots need to calculate the right airspeed for the maneuver.
21:25For 148, 160, plus 20, 180.
21:29The only thing I knew was a flaps 15 speed, and I added 20 knots.
21:35Probably that was too much, but a little bit of extra speed is better than being slow.
21:41At an altitude of just 1,000 feet and three miles from Philadelphia International Airport, the pilots prepare for an emergency landing.
21:51In the cabin, two passengers are still trying to revive Jennifer Reardon.
21:57I start seeing, you know, trees and grass very, very quickly.
22:04I realized that we were landing soon, and we were landing very fast.
22:10Keep going!
22:11The thought that crossed my mind was, why am I not bracing?
22:15But at the same time, I didn't want to give up.
22:18Andrew continued to do compressions.
22:21I just remember looking outside, turning around, and just screaming.
22:27Everybody, heads down, stay down!
22:30And I walked a few rows at a time and showed the passengers their brace positions.
22:36Then once I realized we were landing, you know, much sooner than anticipated, I started very quickly running to the front of the plane to try to get in my jump seat.
22:46Southwest 1380, runway 27L, cleared to land.
22:5127L, cleared to land, Southwest 1380.
22:54It's seconds before touchdown.
22:57Flight 1380 is flying towards the runway at breakneck speed.
23:01The approach speed was about 50 miles an hour faster than a traditional 737 landing because of the reduced flap setting.
23:13Speed brake.
23:16Armed with the green light.
23:19The pilots are unsure of the damage to the plane.
23:23They're making a high-speed approach with the reverse thrust from only one engine to slow them down.
23:28They might not have enough runway to stop safely.
23:3250 feet.
23:34The fate of 144 passengers hangs in the balance.
23:40We were coming in much faster than normal.
23:42I anticipated the landing was going to be rough.
23:46Anything could happen to this plane right now.
23:49We don't know the damage.
23:50Is there going to be an explosion?
23:52Flight 1380 races towards an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport.
24:0230 feet.
24:04Captain Schultz is a veteran Navy pilot.
24:07She's landed F-18 Hornets in war zones.
24:11But this is a landing unlike any other.
24:1410.
24:15We did not want to do a go-around.
24:17We wanted to make sure we were on the ground as fast as possible so that we could get medical attention to our injured passengers.
24:25I was not able to make it to a jump seat before I could feel the wheels touching down.
24:30I braced myself with the passenger's help of holding on to me.
24:33Speed brakes up.
24:42The thrust reverser on their only engine deploys.
24:46If the reverser doesn't work, the plane could overshoot the runway.
24:50We just had to be prepared for absolutely anything.
24:55In my mind, I had to say, okay, these are my exits.
24:58These are my people.
24:59We touched down.
25:04It was a great landing.
25:07Thank you, Lord.
25:11Thank you, Lord.
25:18Just going to pull her around here to the fire trucks.
25:22Flight 1380 rolls to a stop.
25:25I knew in that moment that, okay, we made it.
25:32We survived.
25:34But the crisis isn't over.
25:37The critically injured passenger needs urgent medical attention.
25:42Hey, listen up.
25:43Listen up.
25:44This is the flight deck.
25:45Please stay in your seats.
25:46Emergency equipment is pulling up.
25:48Please stay in your seats.
25:49I really didn't have much of a sense of relief.
25:53I was still trying to maintain communications with the flight attendants, as well as the crash and fire crew.
26:02Rescuers rush onto the plane.
26:04They try to help Jennifer Reardon.
26:07But it's too late.
26:08Jennifer Reardon is the first fatality on an American airliner in more than nine years.
26:20With the tragic loss of one passenger, this would have been a major event.
26:25But investigative agencies look at a major failure of this nature, with or without a fatality, as being very serious.
26:33The National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB, dispatches a team to Philadelphia.
26:41Structures team, start on that window.
26:44Come with me.
26:45The lead investigator coordinates a team of air crash experts.
26:51Flashlight, please.
26:53They were quite surprised to see the amount of damage.
26:57I think it was very surprising to everyone.
26:59Investigators quickly determine why the window in row 14 burst.
27:04The left engine, close by, is blown to pieces.
27:08It almost looked as though there had been an explosion in the front of the engine.
27:12You don't typically see this sort of damage.
27:16And it was extensive.
27:18The investigators closely examine the destroyed engine.
27:23There's no sooting in the engine, so it's clear there was no in-flight fire.
27:27It's quickly obvious to investigators what tore the engine apart.
27:35Fan blade did this.
27:40During normal operation, a fan at the front of the engine rotates approximately 5,000 times per minute.
27:4724 fan blades force air backwards to feed the engine's turbines.
27:52It's a crucial part of a jet engine.
27:54The fan at the front of the engine is responsible for 90% of the thrust of the engine.
28:03But one of the 24 blades of the fan on the left side broke off mid-flight.
28:10Got impact markings here.
28:12When investigators look closely at the remains of the broken fan blade, they find markings they recognize.
28:23You've got beach marks here.
28:26They're called beach marks because it's like the marks left by a tide on the beach.
28:32They're the most obvious things to see.
28:37The beach marks at the base of where the fan blade broke off can only mean one thing.
28:43This is most likely fatigue cracking.
28:46Fatigue cracking is insidious.
28:48It starts at a very small location, very small crack, and it continues to grow over time.
28:53And unless this crack is detected, it's going to lead to the failure of the part.
29:02Give me the maintenance records for the left engine as far back as you can go.
29:07A metal fatigue crack on a fan blade can grow slowly over time.
29:11Airlines are supposed to make periodic checks so that no plane flies with a weakened fan blade.
29:17Fan blades are routinely removed and inspected on all aircraft.
29:24And if they're damaged in any way, they're replaced.
29:28And they're also checked to make sure that the metal fatigue has not set in and that there's cracks.
29:36This is an ongoing process.
29:39But a fatigue crack in a single fan blade caused catastrophic damage to Flight 1380,
29:45resulting in the death of a passenger.
29:47How could that have happened?
29:53NTSB investigators wonder if engineers were doing the proper maintenance
29:57to prevent a fan blade from breaking mid-flight.
30:04Which blade is it?
30:0713.
30:09Catching a fatigue crack at an early stage is absolutely critical
30:14because it will only get longer and longer as the engine continues operating.
30:21Eventually, the crack will become so long that the part is no longer able to hold itself together
30:27and that's when failure occurs.
30:29Airlines execute inspections during scheduled maintenance to look for any defects in the fan blades.
30:41Investigators study the inspection history for the fan blades in the left engine of Flight 1380.
30:46They did a full overhaul in 2012.
30:53Let me see.
30:55They learned that all the fan blades, including fan blade 13,
31:00were inspected during a major overhaul in 2012,
31:04six years before the incident on Southwest 1380.
31:10During the overhaul, the protective coating on each of the blades is stripped.
31:14Then, a fluorescent dye is used to help identify any fatigue cracking.
31:23A fluorescent dye penetrates into the crack.
31:27The crack is visible as a sort of thin, glowing line under ultraviolet light.
31:34Investigators review the work orders done on the fan blades during the 2012 overhaul.
31:40Hmm, this checks out.
31:43It says they did a full inspection of blade 13.
31:48Fan blades on this engine were overhauled in 2012.
31:53And that means they were all removed, the coatings were stripped,
31:57they were inspected, and then everything was reapplied and they were reinserted.
32:03Investigators determined that at the time of the 2012 overhaul,
32:07all the fan blades were found to be in good condition.
32:11But how were the fan blades maintained by Southwest Airlines after the overhaul?
32:17They're supposed to be lubricated and visually inspected between 1,500 and 3,000 flights.
32:23There's seven more routine checks here.
32:28If they're all comprehensive, all done on time.
32:33This was the appropriate and approved maintenance process that all technicians used at that time.
32:41If fan blade 13 was checked routinely for six years and passed all its inspections,
32:49investigators wonder when the crack began.
32:53So what do you got?
32:56Have a look.
32:58A microscopic examination of the fracture surface might tell them more about when the metal fatigue started.
33:04A fatigue crack is a brittle fracture mechanism.
33:12The part looks perfectly good in terms of it's not deformed, it's not bent, but there's a small defect growing.
33:21During the life of these fan blades, they're subjected to stress.
33:25The engine is started up, the stress has increased to full power,
33:29the fan blade is being pulled apart as it tries to go centrifugally outward.
33:33This puts a lot of stress on the route.
33:35The engine is shut down, the stresses go away.
33:38This is one cycle of loading, and it's equatable to one flight cycle.
33:43How long is the crack growing?
33:46Can you tell?
33:48Yeah.
33:49Let's take this up a notch.
33:53Here.
33:54Look.
33:56Using high magnifications, investigators can see tiny tracings called striations.
34:03There's thousands of them.
34:04There's thousands of them.
34:06The investigators determined that each striation corresponded with one flight cycle of the engine.
34:15Therefore, the number of striations matched the number of flights that had been done by the engine.
34:22Investigators tally the striations on the fractured blade.
34:29That means counting tens of thousands of microscopic marks on a tiny piece of metal.
34:37There's over 32,000 striations.
34:40What's that tell you?
34:45By counting the striations on the base of fan blade number 13, investigators are able to date the beginnings of the crack.
34:53This crack could have started more than six years ago.
34:58It's an important development.
35:00The fatigue crack on fan blade 13 likely began before the engine overhaul in 2012 when the blades were under close inspection.
35:13The investigators concluded that the crack was present but had been missed at its last overhaul and during the subsequent visual inspections.
35:25The pressure on investigators mounts.
35:34There are more than 4,000 Boeing 737s in service.
35:41Using the same type of fan blades.
35:43The same inspection regime that missed the growing crack is also used throughout the aviation industry.
35:59The catastrophe that struck flight 1380 could happen again.
36:06Once the fatigue crack has started or initiated, you could liken it to a ticking time bomb.
36:13Investigators need to know why engineers didn't find the crack on the fan blade that caused the tragedy on Southwest 1380.
36:27The last major inspection that was done was with a dipenetrant check that was the approved and appropriate test at that time.
36:37The NTSB discovers that industry regulators were slow to adopt new, more powerful technologies.
36:48It's unfortunate that technologies existed that time, but they weren't used.
36:53And it's arguable whether, had they been used, the crack would definitely have been picked up before failure.
37:04Ultrasonic probes allow inspectors to detect growing fatigue cracks far more effectively.
37:09An ultrasonic inspection shoots a sound wave into the part, and this sound wave can reflect off of any kind of defect that might be there.
37:19So this can detect internal defects as well as surface defects.
37:23If a fatigue crack in fan blade 13 had been detected by inspectors using this new technology, the catastrophe on flight 1380 could have been prevented.
37:35Whether another inspection would have found the crack, it's possible, but this wasn't approved at the time and wasn't applied.
37:42But the missed crack doesn't explain why the shattered fan blade caused so much damage to the engine.
37:48To have a fan blade fail is not an impossible condition.
37:53It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen, and typically what will occur is the engine contains it and the airplane lands normally.
38:04The accident on flight 1380 reveals a weakness in the Boeing 737's turbofan engines.
38:11When the fan blade departed, it damaged the cowl latches.
38:15There are three latches on the underside of the cowlings that secure it to the engine.
38:22The latches are what maintenance needs access to work on the engine, so these cowlings will actually open up.
38:30Investigators determined that when the 11-pound fan blade broke off, it was propelled downward, striking the underside of the latches, one of the most vulnerable places of the engine.
38:41The impact opened the cowl enough for the incoming air to rip the housing from the engine, sending shrapnel everywhere.
38:53One of the questions was, why didn't we see this sort of failure during certification testing?
38:59This engine was certified in 1997.
39:02The computer modeling available in those days never predicted that this sort of failure could happen.
39:12Investigators now understand what happened on Southwest Flight 1380.
39:20Row 14, just on the right.
39:22A small fracture in fan blade 13 had been slowly growing for more than six years.
39:31When Flight 1380 reaches cruising altitude, the fan blade finally breaks.
39:39It strikes a weak spot in the casing and starts a chain reaction that tears the engine apart,
39:46sending a piece of the engine cowl into the window at row 14.
39:49It causes a rapid decompression in the cabin.
40:01Jennifer Reardon, sitting in seat 14A, is sucked out the window.
40:06It's okay.
40:08You're going to be okay.
40:09It's okay.
40:10When I first saw our passenger out the window, it was a shock.
40:14It's not anything that I ever in a million years thought I would see.
40:18Help me!
40:19I said, you know, to myself, it's time to go to work.
40:25And so I positioned myself accordingly, and I had another passenger in row 15 who was assisting me.
40:33And the two of us were pulling with everything we had.
40:3650 feet.
40:37Years of training and experience helped Captain Tammy Joe Schultz and First Officer Darren Ellesaw get their badly damaged planes safely on the ground.
40:47This entire flight crew performed extremely well.
40:50Everyone did their job and did it well.
40:54A lot of good aviation techniques, a lot of training came into play.
41:01I definitely had a lot of anxiety from the time that the engine exploded, and it really didn't even stop once we got the airplane on the runway.
41:14A high-pressure emergency landing saves the plane.
41:20But the accident takes Jennifer Reardon's life.
41:24The NTSB's report recommends that Boeing redesign engine cases,
41:42so a detached fan blade can't cause a catastrophic accident.
41:47The aviation industry expands the use of ultrasonic testing.
41:51With the implementation of this new technology, similar incidents are averted.
42:02Technicians found 23 fan blades that exhibited some form of potential cracking, and they were removed from service.
42:11The skilled airmanship of Captain Tammy Joe Schultz and First Officer Darren Ellesaw is recognized around the world.
42:18We're not heroes, no.
42:21Tim and Joe and I, we were only doing our jobs, everything that we were trained to do.
42:26I do consider the passengers and the flight attendants heroes.
42:32They put their own lives on the line.
42:35That is being a hero right there.
42:39The actions of the flight attendants are also honored.
42:42That day in April, it was our very last day.
42:45We were going home, so it was go-home day, as we call it.
42:49In my mind, that day was going to go very differently.
42:52I did what I needed to do.
42:54That day was definitely not the day that we had expected.
42:59It's okay. You're going to be okay.
43:00As humans, when things are at their worst, we are at our best.
43:08The flight attendants and the passengers, when it was really the darkest of times, they rose to the occasion.
43:17We did everything we could with what we had.
43:21There's people around us that are willing to help and want to help.
43:27You know, we're all here for a reason.
43:29And for some of us, that is to serve.
43:38I was able to really learn about Jennifer and learn who she is as a person
43:41and learn how wonderful she is in the community and the foundation that she has in her name.
43:49The one thing that she wanted to do in this world was to spread kindness.
43:53And even though she's no longer with us, she's still doing that through other people.
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