86 AIRLINER WORLD JUNE 2018
Air
Safety
Reports
and details
of recent
incidents.DATE REG'N C/N TYPE OWNER FATALITIES LOCATION NOTES
Mar-17 C-FDJA 7979 Canadair CRJ200ER Air Canada Express 0 Canada Hit by a vehicle and badly damaged while parked at Montreal
Mar-20 N716JP 527 DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 Bald Mountain Air Services 0 USA Struck a pedestrian on take-off from a remote airstrip in Alaska
Mar-25 F-GPYF 495 ATR 42-500 HOP! 0 France Landing gear door detached inflight and damaged wing root
Mar-28 D-ABLB 36115 Boeing 737-76J Germania 0 Israel Damaged in a ground collision with an El Al 767 at Tel Aviv
Mar-28 4X-EAK 27600 Boeing 767-3Q8ER El Al 0 Israel Damaged in a ground collision with a Germania 737 at Tel Aviv
Mar-29 CP-2459 DC-847B Swearingen SA-227DC Metro 23 Línea Aérea Amaszonas 0 Bolivia Runway excursion after aborted take-off from Riberalta
Mar-29 XA-UYY 1428 ATR 72-600 (72-212A) Aeromar 0 Mexico Broke loose during engine runs and struck another aircraft at Mexico City
Mar-29 XA-UAV 476 ATR 42-500 Aeromar 0 Mexico Struck by another aircraft while parked at Mexico City
Mar-29 N31TN U-49 Beech 99 Lake Clark Air 0 USA Impacted terrain on approach to Pilot Point Airport.
Apr-09 HL7725 29999 Boeing 737-9B5 Korean Air 0 Japan Tail strike on landing at Osaka/Kansai
Apr-11 N814GV 208B-0958 Cessna 208B Grand Caravan Hageland Aviation Services 0 USA Badly damaged when it impacted terrain near Atqasuk Airport
Apr-17 N772SW 27880 Boeing 737-7H4 Southwest Airlines 1 USA Uncontained engine failure with debris puncturing the fuselage
Apr-20 N807WA 53093 McDonnell Douglas MD-83 World Atlantic Airlines 0 USA Right landing gear collapsed on arrival at AlexandriaEngine Inspections Ordered After Fatality
An Emergency Airworthiness Directive
(AD) has been issued to owners and
operators of CFM56-7B engines after
a passenger was killed following an
engine failure during a flight over the
USA. Southwest Airlines flight 1380
from New York/LaGuardia to Dallas/
Love Field, diverted to Philadelphia on
April 17, after the crew reported issues
with the number one engine and
damage to the fuselage. Investigators
determined a fractured fan blade led to
the engine inlet cowl disintegrating andpuncturing the fuselage.
A Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) statement on April 20 reported:
“Debris penetrated the fuselage
causing loss of pressurisation and
prompting an emergency descent.
Although the airplane landed safely,
there was one passenger fatality.”
All CFM56-7B operators are required
to “perform a one-time ultrasonic
inspection (USI) of all 24-fan blade
dovetail concave and convex sides
to detect cracking”, within 20 days of
receiving the AD.
The FAA added: “Fan blade failure
due to cracking, if not addressed,
could result in an engine in-flight
shutdown (IFSD), uncontained release
of debris, damage to the engine,
damage to the airplane, and possible
airplane decompression.”
Flight 1380 was being operated by
17-year-old Boeing 737-7H4 N772SW
(c/n 27880) and had 144 passengers
and five crew on board.
It was the second such incident in as
many years for Southwest. One of the
Texas-based low-cost carrier’s 737-
700s suffered an uncontained failureover the Gulf of Mexico in 2016 and
was forced to make an emergency
landing at Pensacola, Florida. That
incident prompted the FAA to order
USIs of certain CFM56 engines.
Southwest confirmed its existing
maintenance programme “meets or
exceeds all the requirements speci-
fied” in the latest AD. It has pledged
to accelerate its inspection programme
which has resulted in a “minimal” num-
ber of its 4,000 daily scheduled ser-
vices being cancelled.
Flight 1380 passenger Jennifer
Riordan, 42, died from blunt impact
trauma of the head, neck and torso,
a spokesman for the Philadelphia
Department of Public Health said.
The last recorded US passenger airline
fatalities occurred in the 2009 crash of
a Colgan Air Bombardier Dash 8-Q400
near Buffalo, New York.
Southwest Airlines said in a statement:
“The entire Southwest Airlines Family
is devastated and extends its deepest,
heartfelt sympathy to the customers,
employees, family members and loved
ones affected by this tragic event."
(Photo Southwest Airlines)CAASL Strips ETOPS Rating for SriLankan neos
The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka
(CAASL) has suspended the ETOPS
approvals of SriLankan Airlines' Airbus
A320neo and A321neo jets. The move,
reported by the Sunday Times, comes
after an engine inflight shutdown
(IFSD) on January 22, which led to
A321-251 4R-ANE (c/n 7891)
making an emergency landing at
Bangkok/Suvarnabhumi while en route
from Colombo to Hong Kong.
Documents seen by the newspaper
reveal engineers had released the
aircraft prior to the flight despite
detecting debris in the oil monitoring
system of the CFM International LEAP-
1A32 engine, forcing CAASL to step in.
The regulator has ordered the airline
to operate its neos with a 60-minute
diversion range, extending flight times
to destinations in southeast Asia and
the Middle East.The CAASL believes the incident was
“totally preventable” and revealed
that CFM had alerted the airline to the
issue as far back as January 5. The
Sunday Times reported the regulator
has established the incident was “not
attributable to any manufacturing error,
but due to very poor maintenance
practices of the operator” – a claim
denied by SriLankan.
H M C Nimalsiri, Director General
of Civil Aviation, said the incident
“also raises significant alarms” as
to the “competency, credibility and
professionalism of [the] SriLankan
Maintenance Department as to the
compliance with the regulations
and application of sound aircraft
maintenance practices for enhanced
flight safety”.
He added that for SriLankan to
regain its ETOPS approval for the neos,it must demonstrate it will not
“do this type of loose, lackadaisical
business again”.
He added: “There must be a thorough
audit to ensure a sound and reliable
system [is] in place.”
SriLankan insists the IFSD on January
21 was due to a manufacturing
defect in the engine and not a
maintenance oversight.
“The initial investigations carried
out by the engine manufacturer
CFM International confirmed that
the in-flight shutdown on 4R-ANE
was due to an internal bearing failure,”
the airline told the Sunday Times.
“No serious lapses in procedures or
working practices of [the] maintenance
department have been identified.”
The aircraft involved has been
returned to regular service following
the incident.