Southwest Flight Makes Emergency Landing After Engine Failure

On Tuesday, April 27th, Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 was forced to make an emergency landing after one of the engines exploded, breaking a window and sending shrapnel into the cabin. The flight was originally from New York to Dallas but had to land in Philadelphia as the incident occurred early on in the flight. One woman was pulled through the window of the plane after the explosion, and nearby passengers had to work to bring her back inside.

There is one fatality as a result of this incident, a mother of two from New Mexico named Jennifer Riordan, who was also vice president of community relations at a Wells Fargo bank in Albuquerque. It has not been confirmed yet if she was the woman who was pulled out of the window. Before the tragic event, the United States had gone nine years without a commercial airline accident-related death. The last one was in 2009 when a commuter plane crashed in Buffalo, New York and killed 49 passengers, and one person on the ground.

During a press conference Tuesday evening, it was announced that a possible explanation for the engine failure was found. One of the 24 fan blades inside the engine had snapped off, and metal fatigue was found inside the engine. It will take over a year however for the full investigation to be complete.

What a flight! Made it!! Still here!! #southwest #flight1380 pic.twitter.com/Cx2mqoXVzY

— Joe Marcus (@joeasaprap) April 17, 2018