Southwest Engine Failure Causes “Rush For Ultrasound Inspections” Written 20 April 2018

Aerospace America reports that following a fatality aboard a Southwest Airlines flight caused by the failure of one of the aircraft’s CFM56-7B engines, Southwest will work toward inspecting all similar engines in its fleet within a month. When the FAA sought public comment last year on a proposed rule requiring inspections of the engines’ fan blades, “Southwest Airlines resisted, saying it would need 18 months to schedule and inspect the 732 affected engines in its fleet.” CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines that produces the CFM56-7B engines, announced Wednesday that it will work with Southwest to complete “accelerated” supersonic inspections of the engines, and plans to send around 40 GE and Safran technicians to assist. The stakes for the airline “are high,” because as Southwest CEO Gary Kelly “noted in a Tuesday press conference, the airline’s entire fleet consists of 737-700s, each equipped with two CFM56-7B engines.” CFM has “long worried about the state of fan blades on these engines,” some of which have “many thousands of flight cycles, defined as the period from when the engine is started to when it is shut off.” CFM issued a service bulletin last year calling for airlines to remove the fan blades of engines with more than 15,000 flight cycles for ultrasonic inspection “as soon as possible.” CFM specifically called for operators to look for cracks in the “dovetail roots” where the blades join the hub at the center of the fan.
Full Story (Aerospace America)