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Bloomberg
US aviation regulators ordered emergency inspections of one of the world’s most popular jet engines after the fatal accident this week on a Southwest Airlines Co. plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) order covers an estimated 352 CFM International Inc. engines in the US that have made at least 30,000 flights, the agency said in a statement. The emergency order is effective immediately, and inspections must be completed within 20 days, the
FAA said. The European Aviation Safety Agency is adopting similar requirements, said a person familiar with the matter. There are 681 of the engines worldwide with that many flights and regulators in other nations follow the FAA’s lead.
The inspections aren’t expected to disrupt travel, although they will create logistical headaches for airlines with large fleets of Boeing Co. 737s, most of which are powered by the affected engine, said aviation consultant Gary Weissel.
The largest American carriers should be able to schedule aircraft for checks for microscopic cracks during overnight stays at maintenance hubs. Their biggest challenge will involve quickly getting a sufficient number of mechanics and ultrasound scanners in place, Weissel said. “An airline is going to do absolutely everything it can to not take a plane out of service,†he added.
The FAA order adds to the scrutiny of the CFM56-7B, the type of engine that blew out on Southwest Flight 1380 on April 17. Investigators say a fan blade broke off in flight, triggering a chain of events that shattered a window on the Boeing 737-700. A passenger, Jennifer Riordan, who was a vice president at Wells Fargo in New Mexico, was killed after being partly sucked out of the opening. The plane, en route to Dallas from New York, made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.