Jet Engine EXPLODES at 32000 Feet | Southwest Airlines Flight 1380

- A Boeing 737-700 is climbing to 32,000

feet

when, suddenly, a loud bang is heard. The plane veers violently to the left and panic breaks out as the pilots struggle to control their plane and the cabin depressurizes. When the dust settles, the cabin crew looks down through the cabin and realizes, to their horror, that one of their passengers has been dragged halfway out a window. But this is far from the only problem they face at the moment. Stay tuned. - Actually, I'm at... - 100, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10. - Big thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring this video. The story of Southwest Airlines Flight

1380

is very fascinating but also quite complex.

So we'll start by talking a little about the 737-700 and the newly installed CFM56-7B

engine

s. The Boeing 737-700 is part of the Next Generation of the 737 family. And it is essentially built on the basis of the 737-300. The improvements that came to the Next Generation family were essentially a much more efficient wing, but also a new set of CFM56

engine

s manufactured by General Electric in the United States and SNECMA in France. Part of the improvements that came with these new engines was that they reduced the number of fan blades. In the old engines used in the 300, there were 44 fan blades.

And on the new CFM56 engines, there were only 22 wider fan blades. These fan blades were made of a very strong titanium alloy and because of their strength, they do not have what we call a finite lifespan. Instead, they are removed and inspected for fatigue cracks at regular intervals. The way these fan blades are connected to the fan disc, the fan disc is the middle part of the motor, it has individual slots and the lowest part of this fan blade is called dovetail. That's what fits into these slots before securing them in place. The next thing I want to explain is how these fan blades, which are actually quite heavy and spin at a really high speed, which means they have a lot of kinetic energy, are protected from the rest of the plane.

Around the rotating fan is something we call a containment ring. This containment ring is made of Kevlar and other really strong materials. And it is designed to withstand a fan blade departure event, an FBO event. The way we know this can actually be done is that during motor certification, they do something called an FBO test, a fan blade test. This test is exactly what it sounds like. It means that you are putting a fully operational engine on a test bench and revving it up to near its maximum capacity. And then one of these fan blades is ready to be released.

When launched, it is tracked and monitored to ensure that the engine, as a whole, can withstand any damage that results from it. And the idea is that the containment ring is supposed to absorb most of the energy. And then the front of the engine, which is usually the hood, we'll get to that in a second, can support that and it won't separate from the engine and of course other damage. When the new CFM56 engine was being developed for the NG fleet, it had to go through all the required certification tests. And when it came to the FBO test, a couple of assumptions were made.

And one of them was that it wouldn't matter at what point the fan blade would come loose. So engine manufacturers chose to release it at the 12 o'clock position, when the fan blades were facing up. The engine manufacturers had calculated that part of the fan due to the flame-out event could advance outside the containment ring. And when they were calculating this and running computer models, they thought it would probably spiral. But the helix angle of that spiral shape should be about 15 degrees. But when they performed that test, it turned out that, indeed, part of the fan blades moved forward, but at a much greater propeller angle, closer to 26 degrees.

The fan blade piece had a lot more kinetic energy when it came out of the containment ring into what we call the D duct assembly that's in front of the containment ring and that caused a lot of damage. And because of that, the engine builders had to go back to the drawing board, they had to recalculate everything and they had to redesign both parts of the retaining ring and also the front part of the engine D-duct assembly to make sure. who can bear it. And when they retested, there was still a little damage to the D-duct assembly, but the entire unit was still working.

So when you're boarding the 737 and you look up at the engine, you'll see the big fan and a spinning wheel in the middle. That's the one with the spiral, but in front of that, a kind of barrel-shaped structure. And that is the D-duct assembly. It consists of an inner cylinder and an outer cylinder and then there is the aerodynamic lip on the front of the engine. And on the outside there is an aerodynamic fairing called the engine hood. The engine hood is in two pieces and has a hinge at the top and then latches at the bottom.

So if engineering, for example, wants to access the engine, they can open those latches and open the engine hood like two wings on the side. And those hood pieces are going to become really important in the story. On April 17, 2018, Southwest Airlines Flight

1380

was a standard domestic passenger

flight

that was scheduled to fly from New York LaGuardia Airport in the United States to Dallas Love Airfield. This was the second scheduled

flight

for the involved crew of the day. The flight was fully booked with 144 passengers on board and five crew members. In charge of the flight was a 56-year-old captain.

She had been with Southwest Airlines for 24 years when the accident occurred. And he had previous experience piloting the A-7 and F-18 for the US Navy. He had 11,715 hours of total time and 10,513 on the Boeing 737. The first officer who was to be pilot of the flight also had a lot of experience , is a 44-year-old man with previous experience in the United States Air Force, flying the T-37, T-1, and E-3 Airborne Warning and Control Systems. He had 9,508 hours of total time and 6,927 on the Boeing 737. So we are looking at a very, very experienced crew. The cabin crew who are also going to play a very important role in this accident had been with Southwest Airlines for six and a half, four and two years respectively.

The plane the crew is flying is about 18 years old at the time of the accident and there were no known technical faults when it took off from LaGuardia. The crew prepared for the flight normally. The weather was expected to be good, both at LaGuardia and en route and also in Dallas. And at 10:43, they took off from LaGuardia Airport and began climbing towards Dallas. The rise was completely normal. And at 10:57, the crew received clearance to climb to their cruising altitude of 38,000

feet

from air traffic control. But when his plane passed flight level 320, at 32,000 feet, something happened to the number one engine on the left side.

On the dovetail portion of the number 13 fan blades, a small fatigue crack had been developing over the past few years. The fan blades had been checked periodically over the years but the type of monitoring being used had not been able to detect this small crack. This crack had now developed enough that the entire base of the fan blades failed and separated from the fan disk. It did so at the six o'clock position, looking down, and impacted the containment ring just as it was designed to do, and then part of the fan blades began to move forward.

But when it impacted the retaining ring and also the front of the D-duct assembly, it created a shock wave and this shock wave broke the locking ring that was holding part of the D-duct assembly in place. It also caused large cracks in the latches holding the engine hood in place, causing the latches to fail, causing the hood to open and, due to air loads, tear off the front of the engine. While this was happening, the right part of the engine cowling, that is, the inner part, flew over the wing and impacted the side of the plane next to row 14.

In doing so, it caused the interior and exterior glass of the window to break. Row 14 failed and the aircraft ditched, which in turn caused massive depressurization of the passenger cabin. So what is a depressurization now? Well, all airplanes that are designed to fly at higher altitudes have what we call pressurized cabins. This means that we take in air, usually speaking from the engines' air bleed ducts, and push it into the passenger cabin to try to maintain an air pressure inside the cabin that is equal to or slightly less than what there is. on the surface. . This is because we humans cannot absorb oxygen through our lungs if the air pressure is too low, but this also means that there will be a large pressure difference from the outside of the plane to the inside of the plane.

This is generally maintained by pressure vessels, so the entire body of the aircraft, the passenger cabin you are sitting in, the cockpit and even the aft pressure bulkhead will maintain this pressure difference. And the difference can be as much as eight pounds per square inch, psi. But if there is a break in the pressure vessel, in this case through window number 14, then the air pressure will try to equalize. This means that we will go from the high pressure inside the pressure cabin to the low pressure outside. This will force a lot of air to where the break is, and that can bring in anything that isn't attached for a few seconds while the pressure equalizes.

In this case, there was a passenger sitting by the window in row 14. And when this depressurization occurred and air rushed into the now broken window in row 14, all that air pushed her out. Her arms and upper body exited the plane, but fortunately she still had her seat belt on, which meant she was not removed completely. In the cabin, this combination of engine failure and rapid depressurization caused some immediate problems. At 11:03:33 seconds an increase in background noise can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder. It is probably due to the sudden increase in engine failure and then subsequent cabin depressurization.

The flight data recorder then indicated that the aircraft began an uncontrolled bank to the left, as well as some strong vibrations. And it is likely that those vibrations come from the engine that is now failing. But the fact that the engine is also breaking down means that there will be increased resistance on the left side. And that's probably also what's causing this sudden turn. Six seconds later, the cockpit altitude warning sound can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder. This means that the cabin altitude now exceeds 10,000 feet. And the reason the cabin altitude warning activates when exceeding 10,000 feet is because above 10,000 feet, the human body begins to have trouble absorbing oxygen and we begin to experience potential signs of hypoxia.

Because there is now a hole in the cabin, this cabin altitude will equalize the pressure outside, meaning that the cabin altitude will very soon be the same as the airplane's altitude. And that's a problem because they're still at 32,000 feet. And at 32,000 feet, the time of useful consciousness, like the time we have control over our muscles, body, and mind, will be significantly shorter. That is why it is so important for you, if you are traveling as a passenger, that if you drop your oxygen masks, you put them on and start breathing as soon as possible because then you will have access to oxygen, which will avoid the effects of hypoxia.

In the cockpit, this means that pilots now face two very serious situations at once. First, there is engine failure and the control problems that causes with uncommanded left turn. Second, they have an indication of rapid depressurization, which will require them to quickly put on their own oxygen masks to ensure they stay focused and initiate communication. It is very important in a situation like this that the pilot flying continues to fly the plane, which is exactly what he did in this situation. The maximum roll recorded was approximately 41 degrees of pitch to the left before the first officer regained control and leveled the airplane's wings.

Approximately one minute and 11 seconds after the failure, the first noises indicating that the crew was putting on oxygen masks can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder. At the same time, air traffic control is trying to contact the aircraft to give them more clearance, but all air traffic control can hear is static noises inthe frequency. This is probably because when you put on the oxygen mask on a 737, to communicate, especially on the older models in the GN fleet, you have to go down to the audio control panel, which is on the center pedestal and change from the arm position to the mask position.

When you do that, you will be able to start transmitting from the microphone inside the mask. As soon as the captain commands the audio control panel to him, he can begin communicating and calls air traffic control, which at this time is the New York Center. And she tells them that, "Southwest 1380, we have an engine on fire coming down." This is done quickly followed by her call: we have only one engine, we are descending, engine on fire, engine number one. There is now no indication in the final report that a fire warning was actually activated. But there is always the possibility, when a serious failure like this occurs to an engine, that a false fire bell will momentarily ring that could last only a few seconds.

It is not stated in the final report that this was the case, but that could explain why the captain assumed they were having a fire. Air traffic control comes back and responds by saying, "Where would you like to go, to which airport?" To which the captain replies, "Just give us a vector to your nearest one." At this point the aircraft is descending 28,000 feet and it should be noted that no warning has been communicated to the cabin crew regarding the emergency descent at this point. Generally, the first thing pilots have to do when they decide that an emergency descent is necessary is to turn on the public address system and alert the emergency cabin crew to descend, that's because we need them to be conscious so they can also sit down and put on the masks.

But it's perfectly understandable that in a situation like this, where there are two serious failures affecting them at the same time, some things get slightly messed up. The most important thing here is that the crew has the aircraft under control and has initiated the emergency descent to descend into breathing air. The crew is now starting to discuss where they want to go. They receive a vector from air traffic control to the closest geographic airport, which is Harrisburg, but they also need to descend. They are at 28,000 feet. And it will take approximately 50 to 60 nautical miles to descend from 28,000 feet, even if you make an emergency descent.

So the first officer is looking at his cards now. And he says maybe we should head towards Philadelphia. Philadelphia is a good option because it is a destination in the

southwest

, which means they have support on the ground there. It's also a slightly larger airport, with better firefighting equipment, which could be an advantage if the situation got much worse due to the situation they're already in. The captain agrees that Philadelphia is probably the best destination to head to. They then transmit that information to air traffic control. At 11:05:32 the captain is heard asking the co-pilot if he has the aircraft under control.

The first officer answers that he does. And then the captain starts looking for the Quick Reference Manual to start going over the non-normal checklists they need to cover. Now, in a situation like this it's quite complicated to even know which checklist you want to start with. Because we usually only deal with one bug at a time. And in this case, this team faces multiple failures and multiple serious failures. The captain decides to go with the engine fire, serious damage and abnormal separation checklist. And that's something I totally agree with, because they could also opt for rapid depressurization and emergency descent.

But they both know that the plane is descending, that they have their masks on and that they can communicate, which are the most important parts of that checklist, so even if they miss things, such as talking to the cabin crew in In this case, they know that the most important things are done. He wants to go in to try to secure the engine, which I completely understand. Before the captain begins working on the checklist, she also comes over, turns on the PA, and makes a very quick PA to inform the passengers and crew that they are about to divert to Philadelphia.

This will be the first time anyone in the back would have heard the flight crew in this scenario. As the plane descends, the speed remains between 280 and 300 knots. But those of you who have seen my video on how to make an emergency descent know that the procedure requires increasing the speed to the maximum structural speed of the aircraft, VMO or MMO, which is 340 knots or Mach 0.8182. But the crew decided not to increase speed. And that's because they still feel a lot of vibrations. And those vibrations could be indicative of structural problems with the aircraft. So keeping the speed lower, where the vibrations are still tolerable, is also a very good decision on the part of the crew.

Now, before the captain can start working on the abnormal checklist, air traffic control interrupts her and asks them to confirm whether or not they are on fire and what the source of the fire is. Remember, at this point, they have not declared an official emergency day. The captain returns to air traffic control and clarifies, "No, we're not actually on fire. We have a failure on engine number one and we're on one engine right now." Air traffic control then recognized this and cleared them to descend to 11,000 feet. And they also ask them: "What kind of emergency equipment do you need after landing, if any?" The captain responds, "Tell them to roll the trucks and it will be on side number one, with the captain on one side.

After this, they will hand them over to the next air traffic controller. And when the captain checks in with the next air traffic controller air traffic, also declares an official distress. It's worth noting here how important it is to get that official help, help, help call because when you do, air traffic control is more likely to leave you alone on their list. verification, for example, in this transcript, the crew is constantly interrupted during their descent to the airport by multiple frequency changes and are asked by various controllers how much fuel they have on board, how many people they have on board, etc.

That's one of the things. which caught my attention when I read this report: it should possibly be better coordinated when it comes to air traffic control, because what you don't want as a pilot, in a situation with many serious situations. Failures like this are constantly being interrupted and having to re-explain the same information over and over again. At 11:09:30, the captain decides that she wants to take control of the plane. It is actually standard operating procedure at Southwest Airlines that, in the event of a single-engine situation, the captain must perform the landing. Then she takes control of the first officer.

The first officer becomes a follow-on pilot. And now the first officer starts running through the engine fire, serious damage and abnormal separation checklist. So what's going on back in the cabin? Well, after this brief message from my sponsor, I'll tell you everything. I also want to take a few seconds to give a special thanks to the sponsor of this episode, which is Skillshare. Now I know you are seeing this because you are a curious person, a lifelong learner, someone who constantly wants to improve and better understand the world around you. And in that case, Skillshare is definitely something you should check out.

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So click the link and start exploring your curiosity today. In the rear of the cabin, when depressurization occurred, the oxygen masks fell off almost immediately. When the cabin crew saw what happened, they returned to the jump seats, sat down and put on their own oxygen masks, as instructed. Initially they had not heard any calls from the pilots. So when things started to calm down a bit, the cabin crew went to get some portable oxygen bottles and started going around the cabin to make sure if there were any injuries, and also to make sure people had their masks on. correctly.

When they returned to the upper exit around row 14, they saw, to their horror, that a female passenger had been pushed halfway out the now open window. Two cabin crew members attempted to drag her back into the cabin, but due to the huge airflow, they simply were not strong enough to do so. Two male passengers who were sitting very close to her volunteered to help and together they managed to pull the female passenger inside and lay her down on the three seats next to row 14. The female passenger was seriously injured at this time. So they started looking for people with medical experience.

They found a paramedic and a nurse. And those two, together, began to perform CPR on the passenger. But this also meant that passengers who were sitting in row 14, next to the injured passenger, had to move and remember that this was a completely full flight, so there were no free seats available. These passengers were moved to the rear of the cabin and instead sat in the folding crew seats. Returning to the cockpit, at 11:10:14, the crew was handed over again to the now Philadelphia Approach Controller. The Philadelphia approach controller, again, asked the crew how many people were on board, how much fuel they had left, and then they were cleared to descend to 6,000 feet.

The crew now also began obtaining vectors to align with final approach. And when the first officer realized this, he turned to the captain and said, "Um, we're going to need a few minutes, right? To complete some checklists." And the captain replied: "No, keep going." This is actually a pretty interesting conversation because when pilots train in the simulator, we always emphasize how important it is that all checklists are completed before entering and landing. But of course, in reality, pilots will have to take into consideration many, many things and in this case, the captain is sitting in an airplane that may feel like it is vibrating strongly, he may also feel that there is more resistance than normal in The left side.

She doesn't know how damaged her plane is, so it's understandable that the captain wants to land this plane as quickly as possible. And it is also understandable that the first officer, returning to his training, wants to complete the engine fire, serious damage and separation checklist and the following engine inoperative landing checklist, which he knows will take some time. time, but on this occasion, the captain clearly prioritizes getting the plane down before completing a checklist. This is a bit risky for her because by not completing the checklist and rushing the plane to land, if something were to go wrong before landing, then she is basically taking her own responsibility for that happening.

But this is why it is so difficult to be an aircraft commander, because you have to constantly weigh the pros and cons to see what is more important at any given time. At 11:12:28, the first officer looks at her pressurization panel and notices that the cabin is now below 10,000 feet. This is where it is considered safe for them to remove their oxygen masks, so she removes hers, initiates communication again with the captain, and the captain hands the controls back to the first officer for a few seconds while she removes hers. she oxygen mask and then takes control again.

Air traffic control now clears the plane to descend further to 4,000 feet. And here again, the first officer indicates to the captain that she thinks they need a little more time to complete her checklists. The crew asks air traffic control if they can get a very long final, about 20 to 25 miles, but the captain also indicates, as she talks to air traffic control, that she could ask for a shorter final later. As they descend, the co-pilot suggests to the captain that she speak to the cabin crew. The captain agrees that it's a good idea. But she's driving the planeright now, so he delegates it to the first officer.

I just want to point out that I think the first officer is doing a great job here. When reading this accident report, he is assertive, makes good suggestions all the time, and they are very pertinent and intelligent suggestions. The co-pilot now calls the cabin crew. And initially, there is no response. A cabin crew member later explained that she heard the ringing in the cabin, she picked up the intercom, but due to the extreme noise in the cabin, she could not hear what was being said. A few seconds later, the cabin crew called the cabin again. And the first officer received a report of what was happening in the cockpit.

And now it's the first time they hear about the damage to the window in row 14 and also about the seriously injured passenger. When the first officer finishes talking to the cabin crew, he briefs the captain and informs him about the passenger and the status in the rear. And this only reinforces the captain's will to get this plane to land. But there are still checklist items to do. Most of the engine fire, serious damage and separation checklist has been completed. The one engine inoperative landing checklist has not been completed. But here the captain asks to enter vectors for a shorter final, and she also decides that she wants to land with five flaps instead of the normal 15 flap landing that is done after an engine failure.

The reasons she wants to do this is because she feels that the plane is not handling normally. And he fears that if the speed slows down too much, he could lose control of the plane. Once again, she doesn't know what her wing looks like. You could be seriously damaged. Cockpit voice recorder transcripts indicate that the first officer is not 100% happy with this. He says a couple of times that "Maybe we should use flaps 15 instead. Maybe we should do something we know," alluding to the fact that they have been practicing single-engine flaps 15 landings in the simulator while doing so. .

I didn't do it with the five flaps. But, of course, the captain is the captain and the captain is also the one who handles and feels the plane. So he finally settles on flap five and the five-flap speed, which is around 180 knots. They are obtaining vectors for left runway 27 at Philadelphia and decided they will do a visual approach instead of an ILS approach. The surface wind in Philadelphia is 280 degrees 19 with gusts 25. So it's pretty windy but pretty much straight down the runway. The crew selects flaps one, then five, and then goes to the end. Now this is where you should be doing the one engine inoperative deferred item landing checklists that have some additional items.

But instead they opt for the normal landing checklist, which will still ensure they have the gear down and the flaps and airbrake up, etc. But because they are doing a visual approach, they end up pretty low. So for much of the approach, they're getting... - Glide slope, glide slope. - And even... - Ground too low. Ground too low. - GPWS notices but they are totally visual. You can see the track, you can see the PAPIs. Therefore, this is unlikely to pose any real risk to the aircraft. Behind the cockpit, in the cockpit, there are other problems at the moment because the co-pilot has warned the cabin crew that they are about to land in about five minutes.

This means they have had time to prepare passengers for an emergency landing. But the injured passenger is still lying in row 14. This has forced the passengers who were sitting there, remember, to go back and sit in the folding crew seat. But that also means there's nowhere for the team that's supposed to sit there to sit. This causes the cabin crew to sit on the floor, being held and secured by the passengers about 10 seconds before landing, which is when they start shouting: "Heads down! Stay down!" which is the standard call in case of an emergency landing. At 11:20:33, Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 lands safely on runway 27 left in Philadelphia.

They exit via a high-speed taxiway, and stop on the taxiway parallel to the runway, where they come into contact with air traffic control with the fire marshal approaching and inspecting the aircraft. They shut down the plane and the fire chief told the crew that buses would be sent and paramedics would come aboard and care for the seriously injured passenger. The crew goes through the shutdown checklist and, more importantly, they also remember to turn off the CVR, cockpit voice recorder and circuit breaker to make sure everything I've told them is saved for later investigation. The captain then goes out and helps the crew coordinate the disembarkation of both the injured passenger and the rest of the passengers.

The investigation into this incident demonstrated that the crew's decision to skip certain items on the checklist in order to land the aircraft was justified under the circumstances. The investigation team also quickly identified that it was the number 13 fan blade that had detached and that it had detached at the six o'clock position. And the fact that it had done so had caused much more damage through that shock wave than was anticipated during testing. This led the authorities to order a redesign of the CFM56's cowling and the way the containment ring was manufactured, but also to all the fan blades that were connected to the CFM56 engines having to be carefully re-evaluated and checked for fatigue cracks on the dovetail part. of the fan blades before they could continue operating.

As far as the cabin crew were concerned, there were also recommendations that they needed to receive more training and instruction that it was really important for them to be sitting in their jump seats during an emergency landing, not just for their own safety. , but also in case the emergency landing caused an emergency evacuation, they had to be there to be able to open the doors. Overall, it was found that this accident was handled very well by both the pilots and cabin crew, but also by the passengers who were helping during the incident. Sadly, the injured passenger died from injuries she sustained while outside the window, making it the first commercial aviation fatality in the United States in more than nine years at that time.

Now, if you want to see an absolutely crazy story, in which a captain was sucked out of the cockpit window during the flight, then watch the video here. If you want to support the channel, consider joining my Patreon team or buy a t-shirt. I have quite a few of them. Have an absolutely fantastic day and we'll see you next time. Bye bye. (quiet music)