Southwest flight suffers jet engine failure: Live updates | CNN (2024)

A piece from the damaged Southwest jet was found in Bernville, Pennsylvania, 70 miles outside of Philadelphia, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at a press conference tonight.

The engine cowling was discovered in an area near where the crew first observed issues with the aircraft, he said. Investigators performed a preliminary examination of the engine and found evidence of metal fatigue, where the blade separated from the engine, Sumwalt said.

A preliminary review of the aircraft’s voice recorder indicated Southwest flight 1380 was initially “routine,” he said. About 20 minutes after takeoff, multiple warnings and alerts went off in the co*ckpit, Sumwalt said.

The crew deployed their oxygen masks and reported a fire in the No. 1 engine, he said. They later determined there was no fire.

“They were operating single engine and they were initiating an emergency descent,” Sumwalt said.

The crew requested emergency personnel assistance and an extended final approach “because they were concerned with potential aircraft controllability issues,” he said.

Sumwalt said specialists will be examining the aircraft, engine and maintenance records.

The National Transportation Safety Board has released this photo of the damaged Southwest aircraft.

The photo shows NTSB investigators inspecting the plane’s engine.

CNN affiliate KOAT is reporting Jennifer Riordan, 43, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was identified as the victim in today’s Southwest Airlines jet accident.

CNN is working to independently confirm.

Passengers aboard a Dallas-bound Southwest Airlines flight Tuesday struggled to pull a woman back into the plane after she was sucked into a hole left by a shattered window, witnesses said. The woman died, officials said.

The woman was sitting on the left side of the plane when something in the engine apparently broke and smacked into the window. She hung out the hole for many minutes, said Amy Serafini and Hollie MacKey, who were in the seats behind the victim.

Many passengers kept trying to pull the woman back into the plane for a long time, until two men were able to get the woman back in her seat, they said.

A nurse answered a call for help and also tried to do CPR.

Boeing just issued a statement about today’s accident involving Southwest Airlines flight 1380 in Philadelphia.

The company said:

The Boeing 737-700 suffered damage to one of its engines, officials said.

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly, speaking at a press conference tonight, said this is the first fatality the airline has had due to an in-flight accident.

Kelly said the plane’s captain has been with the airline since 1994, and said the crew performed “magnificently.”

Kelly also said he has reached out the family of the deceased passenger, but has not yet been able to make contact with them.

Gary Kelly, CEO and chairman of Southwest Airlines, said the airline is sending a go-team to Philadelphia to assist with response efforts.

“This is a sad day and our hearts go out to the family and the loved ones of the deceased customer,” he said.

Kelly said he was not aware of any issues with the jet and engine involved in the accident. He said the plane was last inspected on April 15.

“We don’t know the cause of this incident,” Kelly said.

The engine that blew on Southwest Flight 1380 was made by CFM International, a joint venture of GE and the French company Safran Aircraft Engines.

In a statement on Tuesday, CFM said that it has sent a team of technical representatives to the site of the emergency landing to help the National Transportation Safety Board investigate. The company said it couldn’t share any information or details about the accident.

GE and Safran “will make every resource necessary available to ensure support,” CFM said.

CFM said that the engine was a model CFM56-7B. That model has “compiled an outstanding safety and reliability record since entering revenues service in 1997 while powering more than 6,700 aircraft worldwide,” the company said. “The engine has accumulated more than 350 million flight hours as one of the most reliable and popular jet engine in airline history.”

What happened: Southwest flight 1380 was traveling from New York City’s LaGuardia airport to Dallas when one of its engines was damaged. The plane made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.

The victims: One passenger on the plane died, according to the NTSB. Fire officials said they treated seven people on scene for minor injuries.

What it was like on the plane: A passenger on the plane said an older woman sitting next to a blown-out window was partially sucked out of it. “People in the other rows are — just trying to plug the hole, which sounds ridiculous, because you know people are using jackets and things, and it’s just being sucked right out,” Marty Martinez told CNN.

Martinez said he and other passengers didn’t believe they’d survive the landing. He began recording a final Facebook Live video for his loved ones while his colleague next to him wrote a goodbye not to his wife and unborn child.

Southwest Airlines confirmed there was one fatality in today’s jet engine failure in Philadelphia.

Here’s what the airline said in its statement:

Southwest said flight 1380 was diverted to Philadelphia International Airport after the crew reported issues “with the number one engine which resulted in damage to the fuselage.”

The Boeing 737-700 was flying from New York to Dallas, with 144 passengers and five crew members onboard.

One person died on Southwest Airline’s flight 1380 after the aircraft’s left side engine was lost.

That marks the first fatal accident involving a commercial U.S. passenger airline flight in nearly a decade.

The last deadly accident on a U.S. passenger plane was in February 2009, when Colgan Air 3407 crashed in wintery conditions while on approach in Buffalo, killing 49 aboard and one person on the ground.

MartyMartinez was on Southwest flight 1380 with a colleague, who started writing a final note to his loved ones as the plane made an emergency landing, Martinez said.

“My colleague is sitting right next to me, and he’s focused just looking down at his phone, and I glance over, writing his last words to his wife and his unborn son,” Martinez told CNN.

That’s when Martinez started fearing that he and his coworker would die on the flight.

Passenger MartyMartinezsaid he logged onto Facebook and started a live video as the plane made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.

The live video seemed like the best way to communicate with all of his loved ones at the same time, he said.

It showed Martinez, his oxygen mask strapped over his mouth, looking into the camera and typing updates to the friends and family members who tuned in.

Martinez said he didn’t think he’d survive the flight.

“The plane was going down fast, it felt like things were getting worse, people were screaming, and all I could focus on was just sending out messages that I wanted to get out to the people that I loved,” he said.

The engine on a Southwest Airlines plane is inspected as it sits on the runway at the Philadelphia International Airport after it made an emergency landing in Philadelphia, Tuesday, April 17, 2018.

Southwest passenger Marty Martinez, who was seated two rows behind the blown-out window, told CNN what it was like when the engine failed: People were screaming, crying, and trying but failing to send text messages and calls:

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt briefs reporters at National Airport in in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, April 17, 2018, on the Southwest Airlines plane incident in Philadelphia.

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said investigators are currently classifying the event as an “engine failure.”

He said it could ultimately be classified as an uncontained engine failure, though that is a technical term which depends on where, precisely, the parts that left the engine originated from.

He added that as a former Boeing 737 pilot, he has never experienced anything like it himself, though the NTSB sees about “three or four” uncontainedengine failures a year, though not all of those involve US carriers.

He gave the example of Air France Flight 66, which made an emergency landing in Canada last fall after one of its engines failed during an Atlantic crossing.

Sarah Eamigh, a passenger on the flight, told CNN partner CTV News that passengers sensed something was wrong during that 2017 flight.

“We heard a loud pop, and we had a quick descent along with some vibration. It definitely was not turbulence so we knew something was wrong,” she told the Canadian broadcaster.

“The captain was able to recover the plane quite fast, however, we were definitely nervous because the vibrating was probably occurring a good five to eight minutes. And then the captain basically 10 to 15 minutes after provided an announcement stating that we had a small engine explosion.”

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt speaking at a media briefing said one passenger has died in the incident involving Southwest flight 1380.

He did not provide further details.

The Fire Commissioner of Philadelphia, when asked by reporters if SW Airlines 1380 was in a “free fall” as described by some passengers on social media, referred the question to the NSTB but added during an emergency landing descent “happens in a fairly rapid manner.”

Flight information provided by FlightRadar24 showed the plane went from approximately 30,000 feet to 13,000 feet in five minutes.

The entire descent took approximately 15 minutes.

Marty Martinez was sitting two rows behind the window that was blasted out on the Southwest flight. Martinez said an older woman was sitting in the window seat next to it, and parts of her body were “sucked” toward the hole.

“She wasn’t like sucked out of the window or pulled out. Buther like arms and her body were sucked, like sucked in that direction, from my vantage point. So you see people, from the back of the seat, holding onto her, you know, trying to keep her contained,” Martinez told CNN.

Meanwhile, other passengers were trying to patch the hole in the plane.

“People in the other rows are — just trying to plug the hole, which sounds ridiculous, because you know people are using jackets and things, and it’s just being sucked right out,” he told CNN.

What happened? Southwest flight 1380 was traveling from New York City’s LaGuardia airport to Dallas when one of its engines was damaged. The plane made an emergency landing in Philadelphia, where passengers used air stairs to disembark the aircraft, the statement said.

Who was hurt? One passenger from Southwest Airlines 1380 was taken to a hospital in critical condition, fire officials said. They also treated seven people on scene for minor injuries.

What does the plane look like now? The crew reported damage to one of the aircraft’s engines as well as the fuselage and a window, the FAA said in a statement. Here’s a photo from CNN affiliate KYW showing the plane’s damaged engine:

What was it like to be on the plane? Passenger Kristopher Johnson described what happened to CNN. “All of a sudden we just heard this loud bang, rattling and then it felt like one of theengines went out. The oxygen masks dropped and flight attendants did a good job.” He added that the emergency landing was “stable” and “relatively smooth.”

What happens now? The National Transport Safety Bureau issending “a go-team” to Philadelphia to investigate Southwest engine incident.The bureau will hold a press conference around 3 p.m. ET.

One passenger on board the Southwest flight was hospitalized in critical condition, fire officials said in a press conference this afternoon.

They also treated another seven patients on scene for minor injuries.

There were 143 passengers and five crew members on board.

“The passengers and crew on board did some pretty amazing things under difficult circ*mstances,” saidAdam Thiel, Philadelphia FireDepartmentcommissioner.

Thiel said crisis counselors are on their way to the scene.

The Federal Aviation Administrationhas lifted the ground stop at the Philadelphia airport, which it put into place earlier this morning following the emergency landing.

Passengers should still expect delays as flights resume, the airport tweeted.

CNN affiliate KYW shows what appears to be a blown-out window on Southwest flight #1380 at Philadelphia International Airport. You can see the shredded engine and window where debris apparently shattered it.

The National Transport Safety Bureau issending “a go-team” to Philadelphia to investigate Southwest engine incident.

The NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt will hold a short media briefing at at 3 p.m. ET.

The National Transport Safety Bureau (NTSB) is gathering information about this morning’s incident involving a Southwest Airlines flight.

No further detail is immediately available.

The plane flying from New York to Dallas had to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning after one of its engines malfunctioned, according to a passenger.

The FAA just issued its statement on what happened to Southwest flight 1380. (The agency notes this is preliminary and subject to change.)

CNN aviation analyst Peter Goelz said a type of engine that is usually “extraordinarily reliable” likely came apart on the Southwest flight, causing today’s emergency landing.

“I have been on scene on these kinds of disasters — they’re very rare, the turbofan engine is extraordinarily reliable,” he said. “But in this case it looks like it came apart midair.”

Watch more:

Southwest passenger Kristopher Johnson just spoke to CNN and recounted his experience on the plane that landed at Philadelphia airport moments ago.

Here’s what he said:

He added: “It was pretty scary, but the pilots did a great job.”

Listen:

The Philadelphia International Airport tweeted that the FAA has issued a ground stop for planes at other airports scheduled to leave for PHL.

The Southwest flight that was diverted due to an engine issue was a Boeing 737-700. The manufacturer tweeted that it is aware of the incident and ready to help.

An engine on a Southwest Airlines plane caught fire in February during a flight, forcing the aircraft to return safely to the Salt Lake City airport shortly after takeoff,CNN affiliate KUTVreported.

The flight’s pilots, who were en route to Los Angeles, conducted an emergency landing, said Nancy Volmer, a Salt Lake City International Airport spokeswoman, the station reported.

Passenger Crystal Bangerter was taking her first flight ever when she saw “huge flames just coming right out of the engine.”

Read more about that emergency landing here.

Kristopher Johnson was a passenger on the Southwest flight that made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.

He said that despite losing one of its engines, the plane made a “typical landing.”

“It definitely was a stable landing,” he told CNN. “When we finally landed it was relatively smooth. Kind of a typical landing.”

Watch more:

A Twitter account for Philadelphia’s airport said that passengers from Flight 1380 were now being brought inside the terminal, and that flights were departing and arriving but “passengers should expect delays.”

Passenger Kristopher Johnson took this photo and shared it to Twitter, thanking the Southwest crew “for a great job getting us to the ground safely after losing in engine.”

Southwest Airlines released a statement on flight 1380, which made an emergency landing in Philadelphia while on its way from New York City to Dallas.

“The aircraft, a Boeing 737-700, has 143 Customers and five Crewmembers onboard. We are in the process of gathering more information,” the airline said.

Here’s the full statement from Southwest:

A map from FlightAware shows Southwest Flight 1380 was headed west/southwest when it took a sharp turn east, back towards Philadelphia.

A passenger on board Southwest Flight 1380, which was headed from New York to Dallas, tells CNN that the plane was diverted to Philadelphia when the aircraft’s left side engine was lost.

“We left LaGuardia [on SWA 1380] heading to Dallas and we were west of Philly when we lost the left side engine and diverted to Philly,” the passenger said.

“Shrapnel hit the window causing a serious injury; no other details about that, several medical personal on the flight tended to the injured passenger,” they added.

CNN affiliate WPVI-TV reports Southwest Flight 1380 left LaGuardia Airport in New York City and was en route for Dallas when something went wrong with the plane and it was diverted to Philadelphia International.

The landing was described as “safe.”

A large amount of fluid was seen under and trailing behind the left side of the plane, and firefighters were seen helping passengers from the plane.

The Southwest plane that made an emergency landing in Philadelphia was seen surrounded by emergency vehicles and passenger buses. Passengers carrying luggage could be seen calmly deplaning the aircraft and boarding the buses.