NTSB: Southwest Airlines Followed Engine Inspection Protocol | Aviation International News

NTSB: Southwest Airlines Followed Engine Inspection Protocol

Fractured blade in failed CFM56 underwent visual and fluorescent penetrant inspections during overhaul in 2012

By Gregory Polek • Senior Editor

May 4, 2018

Mechanics had performed visual and fluorescent penetrant inspections of the fan blades in the CFM56-7B turbofan that failed during an April 17 flight of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 within the period required by Federal Aviation Administration rules, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board revealed in a May 3 investigative update. The engine in question had accumulated 32,000 cycles since new and 10,712 cycles since a November 2012 overhaul when it failed. At the time of the overhaul, maintenance protocols did not include requirements for eddy-current inspections prompted by the August 27, 2016 accident in Pensacola, Florida, in which a fan blade fractured on a CFM56-7B on another Southwest Airlines 737.

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