Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 18 april 2018
1 dead after jet blows an engine; woman nearly sucked out

By ALEXANDRA VILLARREAL get her back in the plane, Tuesday's accident. It is the
and DAVID KOENIG and they got her." world's largest operator of
Associated Press Another passenger, Eric Zil- the 737. The 737 is the best-
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A bert, an administrator with selling jetliner in the world
Southwest Airlines jet blew the California Education and has a good safety re-
an engine at 32,000 feet Department, said: "From cord.
and got hit by shrapnel her waist above, she was Southwest CEO Gary Kelly
that smashed a window, outside of the plane." said in Dallas that there
setting off a desperate Passengers struggled to were no problems with the
scramble by passengers to somehow plug the hole plane or its engine when it
save a woman from getting while giving the badly in- was inspected Sunday.
sucked out. She later died, jured woman CPR. The jet's CFM56-7B engines
and seven others were in- Passengers did "some pret- were made by CFM Inter-
jured. ty amazing things under national, jointly owned by
Passengers dragged the some pretty difficult cir- General Electric and Safran
woman back in as the sud- National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt cumstances," Philadelphia Aircraft Engines of France.
den decompression of the briefs reporters at National Airport in in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, Fire Commissioner Adam CFM said in a statement
cabin pulled her part way April 17, 2018, on the Southwest Airlines plane incident in Phila- Thiel said. that the CFM56-7B has had
delphia.
through the opening, but Associated Press As the plane came in for a "an outstanding safety and
she was gravely injured. landing, everyone started reliability record" since its
The pilot of the plane, a of the emergency. She asleep near the back when yelling to brace for impact, debut in 1997, powering
twin-engine Boeing 737 walked through the aisle she heard a loud noise and then clapped after the air- more than 6,700 aircraft
bound from New York to and talked with passengers oxygen masks dropped. craft touched down safely, worldwide.
Dallas with 149 people to make sure they were OK "Everybody was crying Bourman said. Last year, the engine
aboard, took it into a after the plane touched and upset," she said. "You "We were very lucky to maker and the Federal
rapid descent and made down. had a few passengers that have such a skilled pilot Aviation Administration in-
an emergency landing in "She has nerves of steel. were very strong, and they and crew to see us through structed airlines to make
Philadelphia as passen- That lady, I applaud her," kept yelling to people, you it," Zilbert said. "The plane ultrasonic inspections of
gers using oxygen masks said Alfred Tumlinson, of know, 'It's OK! We're going was steady as a rock after the fan blades of engines
that dropped from the ceil- Corpus Christi, Texas. "I'm to do this!'" it happened. I didn't have like those on the Southwest
ing said their prayers and going to send her a Christ- In a recording of conversa- any fearing that it was out jet. The FAA said the move
braced for impact. mas card, I'm going to tell tions between the cockpit of control." was prompted by a report
"I just remember hold- you that, with a gift cer- and air traffic controllers, The last time a passenger of a fan blade failing and
ing my husband's hand, hurling debris. But it was un-
and we just prayed and clear whether the particu-
prayed and prayed," said lar engine that failed on
passenger Amanda Bour- Tuesday was covered by
man, of New York. "And the the directives.
thoughts that were going "There's a ring around the
through my head of course engine that's meant to
were about my daughters, contain the engine pieces
just wanting to see them when this happens," said
again and give them a big John Goglia, a former NTSB
hug so they wouldn't grow member. "In this case it
up without parents." didn't. That's going to be a
The dead woman was iden- big focal point for the NTSB
tified as Jennifer Riordan, a — why didn't (the ring) do
Wells Fargo bank executive its job?"
and mother of two from Al- In 2016, a Southwest Boe-
buquerque, New Mexico. ing 737-700 blew an engine
She was the first passenger as it flew from New Orleans
killed in an accident involv- to Orlando, Florida, and
ing a U.S. airline since 2009. shrapnel tore a 5-by-16-
The seven other victims suf- inch hole just above the
fered minor injuries. wing. The plane landed
The National Transportation safely. The NTSB said a fan
Safety Board sent a team A Southwest Airlines plane sits on the runway at the Philadelphia International Airport after it made blade had broken off, ap-
of investigators to Philadel- an emergency landing in Philadelphia, on Tuesday, April 17, 2018. parently because of metal
phia. Associated Press fatigue.q
NTSB chairman Robert Sum-
walt said the engine will be tificate for getting me on an unidentified crew mem- died in an accident on a
taken apart and exam- the ground. She was awe- ber reported that there was U.S. airliner was 2009 when
ined to understand what some." a hole in the plane and 49 people on board and
caused the failure. Photos Tracking data from FlightA- "someone went out." one on the ground were
of the plane on the tarmac ware.com showed Flight Tumlinson said a man in a killed when a Continental
showed a missing window 1380 was heading west cowboy hat rushed for- Express plane crashed on
and a chunk gone from the over Pennsylvania at about ward a few rows "to grab a house near Buffalo, New
left engine, including part 32,200 feet (10 km) and that lady to pull her back in. York.
of its cover. traveling 500 mph (800 kph) She was out of the plane. Southwest has about 700
Passengers commended when it abruptly turned to- He couldn't do it by him- planes, all of them 737s,
one of the pilots for her ward Philadelphia. self, so another gentleman including more than 500
cool-headed handling Bourman said she was came over and helped to 737-700s like the one in