Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
Pieces of the engine nacelle were found in a Pennsylvania field. | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | April 17, 2018 |
| Summary | Engine failure leading to rapid depressurization |
| Site | Over Pennsylvania, United States |
| Aircraft | |
| N772SW, the aircraft involved, photographed in 2016 | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 737-7H4 |
| Operator | Southwest Airlines |
| IATA flight No. | WN1380 |
| ICAO flight No. | SWA1380 |
| Call sign | SOUTHWEST 1380 |
| Registration | N772SW |
| Flight origin | LaGuardia Airport, New York City, New York, United States |
| Destination | Dallas Love Field, Dallas, Texas, United States |
| Occupants | 149 |
| Passengers | 144 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Fatalities | 1 (Jennifer Riordan) |
| Injuries | 8 |
| Survivors | 148 |
Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 was a Boeing 737-700 that experienced a contained engine failure in the left CFM International CFM56 engine after departing from New York–LaGuardia Airport en route to Dallas Love Field on April 17, 2018. The engine cowl was broken in the failure, and cowl fragments damaged the fuselage, shattering a cabin window and causing explosive depressurization of the aircraft. Other fragments caused damage to the wing. The crew carried out an emergency descent and diverted to Philadelphia International Airport. One passenger was partially ejected from the aircraft and sustained fatal injuries, while eight other passengers sustained minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged and written off as a result of the accident.
This accident was very similar to an accident suffered 20 months earlier by Southwest Airlines Flight 3472 flying the same aircraft type with the same engine type. After that earlier accident, the engine manufacturer, CFM, issued a service directive calling for ultrasonic inspections of the turbine fan blades with certain serial numbers, service cycles, or service time. Southwest did not perform the inspection on the engine involved in this failure because it was not within the parameters specified by the directive.