Original subtitles

- What the...? - Whoa. Whoa.

This flight became a life-threatening crisis in seconds.

NARRATOR: An explosion rocks Southwest Flight 1380.

The vibration was so severe I was not able to see any of the instruments.

Throughout the airplane it was just screams of terror.

NARRATOR: The cabin depressurizes.

I could feel the air being sucked out of my lungs.

Everything became very, very hot, then very, very cold at the same time.

NARRATOR: As the pilots fight to regain control of their airplane...

You still got it.

NARRATOR: ...flight attendants make a horrifying discovery.

MAN: Mayday! Mayday!

(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)

AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION

This is a true story.

It is based on official reports and eyewitness accounts.

CABIN CATASTROPHE

LaGuardia International Airport, New York

NARRATOR: Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 is boarding for a trip to Dallas, Texas.

April 17, 2018

Andrew Needum is a firefighter and paramedic

on his way home after a family vacation in New York City.

We took a trip kind of as a year end...

Andrew Needum Passenger

...to the completion of my paramedic certification school,

and so we decided that it would be a family getaway.

- Row 14, just on the right. - Thank you.

NARRATOR: Jennifer Riordan is returning home

from a business trip to New York.

One hundred and forty-four passengers settle in to this sold-out flight.

In the cockpit, the flight crew prepares the Boeing 737 for departure.

- Let's start the pre - flight procedures.

ELLISOR: I'm on it.

NARRATOR: Captain Tammie Jo Shults has been flying 737s for 24 years.

Homeward bound.

NARRATOR: She's no ordinary flight commander.

Tammie Jo Shults, she is a former naval aviator...

John Cox Aviation Safety Analyst

...flew during the Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm,

- and also flew aerial fire - fighting aircraft before joining Southwest.

NARRATOR: First Officer Darren Ellisor has been with Southwest for ten years.

He's a former Air Force Major.

ELLISOR: I love to fly.

We get to see the most amazing sites...

Darren Ellisor First Officer

...and be in a different place every time you go fly.

- Your leg? - This one's mine.

NARRATOR: It's the second day of a four-day pairing for the crew.

First Officer Ellisor will be the pilot flying this leg.

ELLISOR: I was starting my day in the cockpit ready to go fly.

It was a beautiful day in LaGuardia actually.

The weather was fantastic.

Nashville TENNESSEE

NARRATOR: The crew flew in earlier today from Nashville.

New York

The four-hour trip to Dallas will be their second and final flight of the day.

Dallas TEXAS

NARRATOR: Flight Attendant Rachel Fernheimer

started with Southwest Airlines just two years ago.

FERNHEIMER: I love my job. I would have to say it's the people.

My favorite thing is to just kind of be there for them...

Rachel Fernheimer Flight Attendant

...and talk them through what they need me to.

Or even just to have a laugh with them or a cry with them.

NARRATOR: Rachel is working with her colleague, Seanique Mallory.

At 10:42 am, Flight 1380 takes off on time.

V1. Rotate.

NARRATOR: Two turbofan engines power the Boeing 737 into the sky.

ELLISOR: The airplane was almost to maximum weight.

The gas tanks were near full capacity.

And when you're a heavy airplan it does affect your performance

It makes the airplane, uh, less responsive.

NARRATOR: As flight 1380 climbs to cruising altitude,

controllers at LaGuardia hand the flight over to New York Are controllers.

LAGUARDIA ATC: Southwest 1380, contact New York Center, 133.47

Copy that. 1380.

NARRATOR: Twenty minutes after take-off...

Thank you.

(EXPLOSION)

Everything changed.

- What the...? - Whoa, whoa.

ELLISOR: We had a very large bang.

We had multiple warnings going off in the cockpit,

and a very severe vibration throughout the entire plane.

This flight went from being an absolutely routine flight into Dallas,

into a life-threatening crisis in seconds.

NARRATOR: The plane depressurizes.

I could feel the air being sucked out of my lungs.

Immediately it was very disorienting.

It was something that I've never had in my entire flying career.

NARRATOR: First Officer Ellisor struggles to control the aircraft

as it banks steeply to the left

I immediately grabbed the yoke to stop the roll.

You still got it!

I was not able to see any of the instruments

because the vibration was so severe.

It was just a blur of colors. And so I can't see anything.

You still got it!

Luckily it was a clear day, a very clear horizon,

and I was able to roll out of the bank and recover the airplane.

Okay, wings are back to level. You're looking good.

NARRATOR: At 32,000 feet,

the pilots need to determine what's wrong with their plane.

COX: There's a lot of vibration. The climb rate decreases.

The engine RPM was rolling back

They very quickly knew that they had an engine problem.

Emergency descent.

NARRATOR: First Officer Ellisor reduces engine power

and begins a steep descent.

I know that we have a pressurization problem.

I know we have some sort of engine problem.

I don't know what else is going on,

but I know we need to start on our way down.

SHULTS: Southwest 1380 has an engine fire and is descending.

NARRATOR: Captain Shults updates New York Air Traffic Control.

Smoke in the cockpit could indicate an engine fire.

Tammie Jo thought it was smoke. I did not think it was smoke at the time.

Explosive decompression causes a condensation in the air,

which basically looks like a fog.

ATC: All right Southwest 1380, okay where would you like to go

To which airport?

Give us a vector to your nearest airfield.

ATC: Okay.

We knew we needed to land the airplane as soon as practical.

I looked on my map display and saw two airfield circles

that were very close, except they were very small airports.

They may not have the appropriate fire and rescue crews there.

They may not have a long enough runway for us.

NARRATOR: First Officer Ellisor sees another option 70 miles away.

It's an airport he knows well.

I just pointed on my map to Philadelphia and she saw it immediately.

Philadelphia.

NARRATOR: Flight 1380 is now falling fast.

Unsure of what's wrong with their aircraft,

the pilots update the passengers.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain.

We're going into, uh, Philadelphia.

Uh remain seated. Thank you.

- I'll tell you what, I'm going to take it. -All right.

NARRATOR: As commander of the flight, Captain Shults takes control.

ELLISOR: Whatever she told me to do, I was going to do.

She wanted to fly and wanted me to run the checklists,

and I was fine with that.

NARRATOR: First Officer Ellisor begins checklists

for a severe engine failure or fire.

The problem engine, engine one on the left side,

must be shut down before it can do any more damage.

ELLISOR: Auto-throttle, if engaged, disengage.

That checklist calls for multiple steps.

SHULTS: Disengaged.

ELLISOR: You retard the throttle for the affected engine,

and then you have a fire warning switch which you will pull.

COX: It's too easy to have something get overlooked in an emergency.

Checklists are designed to be very efficient,

also ensure that the airplane remains in a safe state.

NARRATOR: Flight 1380 is ten minutes away

from Philadelphia International Airport and closing fast.

Controllers in Philadelphia try to guide the flight to safety.

Southwest 1380, are you coming right in or extended final?

NARRATOR: As the plane drops below 10,000 feet,

the crew no longer needs oxygen masks to breathe.

Extended final.

NARRATOR: The Captain requests a longer approach,

so she and Ellisor have time to finish their checklists.

We got a couple of checklists to run.

I wanna talk to the girls as well. We don't know what happened back there.

You go talk to the girls. I've got everything here.

You guys there? Hello?

I rang the flight attendants and I didn't get any answer.

I didn't know what was going on back there.

I got no reply from the back.

I'm really starting to get worried and I was so concerned

that I was ready to get up to see what's going on back there.

NARRATOR: Before First Officer Ellisor can investigate...

(RADIO DINGS)

...there's a call from the cabin.

Hello?

MALLORY: A window is open and somebody is out the window!

NARRATOR: Flight 1380 is just 20 minutes

into a four-hour flight from New York to Dallas, Texas.

- Suddenly... - (EXPLOSION)

...crisis strikes.

There's a very, very loud noise that is repeating over and over again.

Rachel Fernheimer Flight Attendant

Like a big, loud pounding of the aircraft. I didn't know what was happening.

NEEDUM: Just metal on metal, shearing, grinding.

Andrew Needum Passenger

A noise that I hope I never have to hear again.

FERNHEIMER: I didn't know if it was going to be heavy turbulence,

if it was something wrong with the plane. I knew that something was not right.

NARRATOR: The cabin is rapidly decompressing

as the pressurized air inside the cabin

rushes to escape to the low-pressure atmosphere outside.

What happens is...

John Cox Aviation Safety Analyst

...the air in your lungs gets pulled out as well.

So you exhale a lot and it's very surprising to you.

NARRATOR: Passengers and crew need oxygen masks to help them breathe.

One passenger uses his phone to film the chaos in the cabin.

It was just screams of terror throughout the cabin of the airplane.

The noise was just immense. The shaking was violent.

- What's happening? - Jump seats!

FERNHEIMER: I see Seanique.

I didn't have time to really take a moment to look around

before I was telling her to quickly take the jump seat.

My eyes got very heavy.

Everything became very, very hot, then very, very cold at the same time.

As the warm air that the airplane was making is evacuated,

and the fact that it's now 50 below zero outside,

it gets very cold, very, very quickly.

FERNHEIMER: I could just feel a lack of oxygen surrounding me

You just have to make sure that you are getting oxygen.

I was able to take my first good breath of oxygen

before going out into the cabin without even thinking.

NARRATOR: The cabin crew checks on the passengers, row b row.

It's so noisy that it's nearly impossible to communicate.

FERNHEIMER: I looked every single one of them in the eye and I just said,

"You're going to be okay. We are going to make it. I'm here."

And at that point, we didn't even know if that was true.

NARRATOR: At Row 14, the flight attendant is stopped cold.

We had a passenger that was partially out of the aircraft.

Her seatbelt was the only thing

that was holding her into the plane at that point,

because everything from the waist up was outside of the plane.

We're gonna be okay.

COX: When an aircraft depressurizes,

all of that air is going to come out this now hole

that was a window in the side of the airplane.

And it's an immense amount of force.

We're gonna be okay.

NARRATOR: Passenger Jennifer Riordan has been pulled partway out of the plane.

I was trying to pull Jennifer back into the plane.

I remember saying it like loud,

"It's okay. We have you. You're gonna be okay."

I just wanted her to somehow know that we were with her.

It's okay. It's okay. You're gonna be okay.

Help me!

NARRATOR: Passenger Andrew Needum,

a firefighter and paramedic, acts instinctively.

The thought process that was going through my head

was that there was a passenger in need and I was there to provide assistance.

NARRATOR: Andrew Needum joins fellow passenger Tim McGinty

in the struggle to pull Jennifer Riordan in.

My immediate reaction was to just reach in and grab for whatever I could,

and I was able to able to grab onto Mrs. Riordan's pants.

I was unable to get any leverage.

NARRATOR: As passengers struggle to save Jennifer Riordan,

the pilots are unaware of what's happening in the cabin.

You guys there? Hello?

They were actually trying to call us,

but we were unable to hear that they were trying to do so.

I got no reply from the back.

NARRATOR: Finally, Flight Attendant Seanique Mallory

tries to make contact with the pilots.

ELLISOR: Hello?

A window is open and somebody is out the window!

Everything pretty much just stopped.

Darren Ellisor First Officer

It's not something that you're prepared to hear at all.

Tammie Jo and I just looked at each other in basically shock and disbelief.

Okay. We're coming down.

NARRATOR: The life of a passenger is in grave danger.

You want the airplane on the ground.

You want it stopped and you want medical people on board to help.

NARRATOR: The pilots must get Flight 1380 on the ground as soon as possible.

Six thousand feet over Pennsylvania, Southwest Flight 1380

has lost its left engine and suffered a rapid decompression.

Is everyone else still in their seats strapped down?

Everybody is still in their seats.

NARRATOR: But now, the pilots face another terrifying problem

We've tried to help get her in.

I don't know what her situation is, but the window is completely out.

NARRATOR: Passengers are still struggling to pull Jennifer Riordan inside the cabin.

We were pulling with everything we had.

Andrew Needum Passenger

We weren't getting anywhere.

The big factor for the passengers was that they went into very high energy air.

John Cox Aviation Safety Analyst

It's a 300 plus mile an hour wind. They would be subjected t brutal forces.

Slow it down to 210 knots, right now.

NARRATOR: In the cockpit, First Officer Ellisor

has thought of a way he can hel with Riordan's rescue.

I turned to Tammie Jo...

Darren Ellisor First Officer

...and I said we needed to slow down to 210 knots.

I knew that the speed of the aircraft

was actually the thing that was preventing the people in the back

from getting that passenger back in the plane.

We got her! We got her!

NARRATOR: First Officer Ellisor's hunch pays off.

The slower speed allows rescuer to pull the passenger back in.

The pilots reduced speed and it was only at that point

where we were able to pull her back in.

NARRATOR: Jennifer Riordan's condition is dire.

There was no signs of life.

You know, I felt for a pulse and started chest compressions.

It was never a sense of is she still with us?

Rachel Fernheimer Flight Attendant

It was a she's with us, what can we continue to do to try to keep it this way?

Let's get her turned in.

NARRATOR: The pilots are doing everything they can to save Riordan.

Philadelphia Airport is still 30 miles away.

We knew that we needed to get on the ground as fast as we could.

Everything was time critical.

FERNHEIMER: I see a lady come help us, a nurse.

And Andrew who is a EMT and firefighter, was starting to do compressions.

I knew that they were able to handle the situation.

Can we have medical meet us at the runway? We have injured passengers.

Injured passengers, okay. And is your plane physically on fire?

No, it's not on fire. But parts of it are missing.

They say there's a hole and someone went out.

I'm sorry. There is a hole and someone went out?

ELLISOR: Yes.

Southwest 13-80, it doesn't matter, we'll work it out there.

The airport's just off to your right.

NARRATOR: Flight 1380 descends to 3,000 feet.

All right. Set flaps to five.

NARRATOR: Still 20 miles away from the airport,

the pilots prepare for landing.

You fly at a higher speed with flaps five.

She had less drag and less lift being produced out of the flaps.

NARRATOR: As an ex-fighter pilot,

Captain Shults knows how speed will give her more control.

The captain elected to use a reduced flap setting

and a higher approach speed

so that she was guaranteed, in her mind, a higher level of controllability.

Flaps five. Are you sure? How about just 15? Something we know.

Tammie Jo initially asked for a flaps five landing.

I questioned this because a flaps 15 landing

is what we normally would do in a single engine situation.

COX: The Captain is the final authority.

She had been flying the airplane, so she knew how the airplane felt.

And so she said we're gonna land with flaps 5.

Give me a speed for flaps 5.

- One forty eight... - NARRATOR: There's no guidance

in the manuals for a flaps 5 single engine landing.

The pilots need to calculate the right airspeed for the maneuver.

One forty eight. 160 plus 20.180.

The only thing I knew was a flaps 15 speed and I added 20 knots.

Probably that was too much.

But a little bit of extra speed is better than being slow.

NARRATOR: At an altitude of just 1,000 feet

and three miles from Philadelphia International Airport,

the pilots prepare for an emergency landing.

In the cabin, two passengers ar still trying to revive Jennifer Riordan.

FERNHEIMER: I start seeing, you know, trees and grass, very, very quickly,

so I realized that we were landing soon and we were landing very fast.

Keep going!

The thought that crossed my mind was, why am I not bracing?

But at the same time, I didn't want to give up.

Andrew continued to do compressions. I just remember looking outside,

turning around and just screaming.

Everybody, heads down! Stay down!

And I walked a few rows at a time

and showed the passengers their brace position.

Then once I realized we were landing, you know, much sooner than anticipated,

I started very quickly running to the front of the plane

to try to get in my jump seat.

ATC: Southwest 1380, runway two-seven-left cleared t land.

Two-seven-left cleared to land, Southwest 1380.

NARRATOR: It's seconds before touchdown.

Flight 1380 is flying towards the runway at breakneck speed.

The approach speed was about 50 miles an hour faster

than a traditional 737 landing because of the reduced flap setting.

Speed brake?

Armed with a green light.

NARRATOR: The pilots are unsure of the damage to the plane.

They're making a high-speed approach

with the reverse thrust from only one engine to slow them down.

They might not have enough runway to stop safely.

ELLISOR: Fifty feet!

NARRATOR: The fate of 144 passengers hangs in the balance

We were coming in much faster than normal.

I anticipated the landing was gonna be rough.

FERNHEIMER: Anything could happen to this plane right now.

We don't know the damage. Is there going to be an explosion?

NARRATOR: Flight 1380 races towards an emergency landing

at Philadelphia International Airport.

Thirty feet.

NARRATOR: Captain Shults is a veteran Navy pilot.

She's landed F-18 hornets in war zones.

But this is a landing unlike any other.

Ten.

ELLISOR: We did not want to do a go around.

We wanted to make sure we were on the ground as fast as possible...

Darren Ellisor First Officer

...so that we could get medical attention to our injured passengers.

FERNHEIMER: I was not able to make it to a jump seat

before I could feel the wheels touching down.

I braced myself with the passengers' help of holding ont me.

Rachel Fernheimer Flight Attendant

ELLISOR: Speed brakes up.

NARRATOR: The thrust reverser on their only engine deploys.

If the reverser doesn't work, the plane could overshoot the runway.

FERNHEIMER: We just had to be prepared for absolutely anything.

In my mind, I had to say, "Okay, these are my exits, these are my people."

We touched down. It was a great landing.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord.

I'm just gonna pull her around here to the fire trucks.

NARRATOR: Flight 1380 rolls to a stop.

I knew in that moment that, okay, we made it. We survived.

NARRATOR: But the crisis isn't over.

The critically injured passenge needs urgent medical attention.

Okay, listen up. Listen up. This is the flight deck.

Please stay in your seats.

Emergency equipment is pulling up. Please stay in your seats.

ELLISOR: I really didn't have much of a sense of relief.

I was still trying to maintain communications with the flight attendants

as well as the crash and fire crew.

NARRATOR: Rescuers rush onto the plane.

They try to help Jennifer Riordan, but it's too late.

Jennifer Riordan is the first fatality

on an American airliner in more than nine years.

With the tragic loss of one passenger...

John Cox Aviation Safety Analyst

this would have been a major event.

But investigative agencies look at a major failure of this nature

with or without a fatality as being very serious.

NARRATOR: The National Transportation Safety Board,

the NTSB, dispatches a team to Philadelphia.

Structures team, start on that window.

Come with me.

NARRATOR: The lead investigator co-ordinates a team of air cras experts.

Flashlight, please.

COX: They were quite surprised to see the amount of damage.

I think it was very surprising to everyone.

NARRATOR: Investigators quickly determine why the window in Row 14 burst.

The left engine close by is blown to pieces.

COX: It almost looked as though

there had been an explosion in the front of the engine.

You don't typically see this sort of damage and it was extensive.

NARRATOR: The investigators closely examine the destroyed engine.

There's no sooting in the engin so it's clear there was no in - flight fire.

It's quickly obvious to investigators what tore the engine apart.

A fan blade did this.

NARRATOR: During normal operation,

a fan at the front of the engin rotates approximately 5,000 times per minute.

Twenty-four fan blades force ai backwards to feed the engine's turbines.

It's a crucial part of a jet engine.

The fan at the front of the engine...

Steve Moss Former AAIB Investigator

...is responsible for 90% of the thrust of the engine.

NARRATOR: But one of the 24 blades of the fan on the left side

broke off mid-flight.

We've got impact markings here.

NARRATOR: When investigators look closely at the remains of the broken fan blade,

they find markings they recognize.

We've got beach marks here.

They're called beach marks

because it's like the marks left by a tide on the beach.

They're the most obvious things to see.

NARRATOR: The beach marks at the base of where the fan blade broke off

can only mean one thing.

This is most likely fatigue cracking. Fatigue cracking is insidious.

Jim Wildey Former NTSB Investigator

It starts at a very small location, a very small crack,

and it continues to grow over time.

And unless this crack is detected, it's gonna lead to a failure of the part.

Get me the maintenance records for the left engine

as far back as you can go.

NARRATOR: A metal fatigue crack on a fan blade can grow slowly over time.

Airlines are supposed to make periodic checks

so that no plane flies with a weakened fan blade.

Fan blades are routinely removed and inspected on all aircraft.

And if they're damaged in any way, um, they're replaced,

and they're also checked to make sure that the metal fatigue has not set in

and that there's cracks. This is an ongoing process.

NARRATOR: But a fatigue crack in a single fan blade

caused catastrophic damage to flight 1380,

resulting in the death of a passenger. How could that have happened?

NARRATOR: NTSB investigators wonder

if engineers were doing the proper maintenance

to prevent a fan blade from breaking mid-flight.

Which blade is it?

Thirteen.

Catching a fatigue crack at an early stage is absolutely critical...

Steve Moss Former AAIB Investigator

...because it will only get longer and longer

as the engine continues operating.

Eventually the crack will become so long,

that the part is no longer able to hold itself together

and that's when failure occurs.

NARRATOR: Airlines execute inspections during scheduled maintenance

to look for any defects in the fan blades.

Investigators study the inspection history

for the fan blades in the left engine of flight 1380.

They did a full overhaul in 2012.

Let me see.

NARRATOR: They learn that all the fan blades, including fan blade 13,

were inspected during a major overhaul in 2012

six years before the incident on Southwest 1380.

During the overhaul,

the protective coating on each of the blades is stripped.

Then, a fluorescent dye is used to help identify any fatigue cracking.

MOSS: The fluorescent dye penetrates into the crack,

and the crack is visible as sort of thin, glowing line under ultraviolet light.

NARRATOR: Investigators review the work orders

done on the fan blades during the 2012 overhaul.

This checks out.

Says they did a full inspection of Blade 13.

WILDEY: The fan blades on this engine were overhauled in 2012,

and that means they were all removed.

Jim Wildey Former NTSB Investigator

The coatings were stripped. They were inspected.

And then everything was reapplied, and they were re - inserted.

NARRATOR: Investigators determine that at the time of the 2012 overhaul,

all the fan blades were found to be in good condition.

But how were the fan blades maintained by Southwest Airline after the overhaul?

They're supposed to be lubricated

and visually inspected between 1,500 and 3,000 flights

There's seven more routine checks here.

They're all comprehensive. All done on time.

COX: This was the appropriate and approved maintenance proces

that all technicians used at that time.

John Cox Aviation Safety Analyst

NARRATOR: If fan blade 13 was checked routinely for six years

and passed all its inspections, investigators wonder when the crack began.

- So what do you got? - Have a look.

NARRATOR: A microscopic examination of the fracture surface

might tell them more about when the metal fatigue started.

I see.

The crack was growing.

A fatigue crack is a brittle fracture mechanism.

The part looks perfectly good in terms of it's not deformed.

It's not bent, but there's a small defect growing.

During the life of these fan blades, they're subjected to stress.

The engine is started up, the stress is increased to full power.

The fan blade is being pulled apart as it tries to go centrifugally outward.

This puts a lot of stress on the root.

The engine is shut down, the stresses go away.

This is one cycle of loading and it's equatable to one flight cycle.

How long was the crack growing? Can you tell?

Yeah. Let's take this up a notch.

Here. Look.

NARRATOR: Using high magnifications,

investigators can see tiny tracings called striations

There's thousands of them.

Investigators determined that each striation

corresponded with one flight cycle of the engine.

Therefore, the number of striations

matched the number of flights that had been done by the engine.

NARRATOR: Investigators tally the striations on the fractured blade.

That means counting tens of thousands of microscopic marks

on a tiny piece of metal.

There's over 32,000 striations.

What's that tell you?

NARRATOR: By counting the striations on the base of Fan Blade Number 13,

investigators are able to date the beginnings of the crack.

Well this crack could have started more than six years ago.

NARRATOR: It's an important development.

The fatigue crack on fan blade 13

likely began before the engine overhaul in 2012

when the blades were under close inspection.

The investigators concluded that the crack was present,

but had been missed at its last overhaul

and during the subsequent visual inspections.

NARRATOR: The pressure on investigators mounts.

There are more than 4,000 Boeing 737s in service

using the same type of fan blades.

The same inspection regime that missed the growing crack

is also used throughout the aviation industry.

The catastrophe that struck Flight 1380 could happen again.

Once a fatigue crack has started or initiated,

you could liken it to a ticking time bomb.

NARRATOR: Investigators need to know

why engineers didn't find the crack on the fan blade

that caused the tragedy on Southwest 1380.

The last major inspection that was done was with a dye penetrant check.

That was the approved and appropriate test at that time.

NARRATOR: The NTSB discovers that industry regulators were slow to adopt

new, more powerful technologies

It's unfortunate that technologies existed at that time,

but they weren't used.

And it's arguable whether had they been used

the crack would definitely have been picked up before failure.

NARRATOR: Ultrasonic probes allow inspectors

to detect growing fatigue crack far more effectively.

An ultrasonic inspection shoots a sound wave into the part.

And this sound wave can reflect off of any kind of defect that might be there.

So this can detect internal defects as well as surface defects.

NARRATOR: If a fatigue crack in fan blade 13

had been detected by inspectors using this new technology,

the catastrophe on Flight 1380 could have been prevented.

WILDEY: Whether another inspection would have found the crack, it's possible.

But this wasn't approved at the time and wasn't applied.

NARRATOR: But the missed crack doesn't explain

why the shattered fan blade caused so much damage to the engine.

To have a fan blade fail is not an impossible condition.

It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen,

and typically what will occur

is the engine contains it and the airplane lands normally

NARRATOR: The accident on Flight 1380

reveals a weakness in the Boeing 737's turbo fan engines.

When the fan blade departed, it damaged the cowl latches.

NARRATOR: There are three latches on the underside of the cowlings

that secure it to the engine.

The latches are what maintenance needs access to work on the engines.

So these cowlings will actually open up.

NARRATOR: Investigators determine that when the 11-poun fan blade broke off,

it was propelled downward, striking the underside of the latches,

one of the most vulnerable places of the engine.

The impact opened the cowl enough for the incoming air

to rip the housing from the engine, sending shrapnel everywhere.

COX: One of the questions was,

you know, why didn't we see this sort of failure during certification testing?

This engine was certified in 1997.

The computer modeling available in those days

never predicted that this sort of failure could happen.

NARRATOR: Investigators now understand what happened on Southwest Flight 1380.

- Row 14. Just on the right. - Thank you.

NARRATOR: A small fracture in fan blade 13

had been slowly growing for more than six years.

When Flight 1380 reaches cruising altitude the fan blade finally breaks.

It strikes a weak spot in the casing and starts a chain reaction

that tears the engine apart,

sending a piece of the engine cowl into the window at row 14.

It causes a rapid decompression in the cabin.

Jennifer Riordan, sitting in seat 14-A, is sucked out the window.

It's okay. You're gonna be okay.

When I first saw the passenger out the window, it was a shock.

It's not anything that I ever in a million years thought I would see.

Help me!

NEEDUM: I said, you know to myself, it's time to go to work

And so I positioned myself accordingly, and I had another passenger in row 15,

who was assisting me.

And the two of us were pulling with everything we had.

Fifty feet.

NARRATOR: Years of training and experience

help Captain Tammie Jo Shults and First Officer Darren Elliso

get their badly damaged plane safely on the ground.

This entire flight crew performed extremely well.

Everyone did their job and did it well.

A lot of good aviation techniques, a lot of training came into play.

I definitely had a lot of anxiety from the time that the engine exploded

and it really didn't even stop once we got the airplane on the runway.

NARRATOR: A high-pressure emergency landing saves the plane.

But the accident takes Jennifer Riordan's life.

The NTSB's report recommends that Boeing redesign engine cases

so a detached fan blade can't cause a catastrophic accident.

The aviation industry expands the use of ultrasonic testing.

With the implementation of this new technology,

similar incidents are averted.

Technicians found 23 fan blades

that exhibited some form of potential cracking,

and they were removed from service.

NARRATOR: The skilled airmanship of Captain Tammie Jo Shults

and First Officer Darren Elliso is recognized around the world.

ELLISOR: We're not heroes. No.

Tammie Jo and I were only doing our jobs, everything that we were trained to do.

I do consider the passengers and the flight attendants heroes.

They put their own lives on the line. That is being a hero right there.

NARRATOR: The actions of the flight attendants are also honored.

That day in April, it was our very last day.

We were going home, so it was 'go home day' as we call it.

In my mind, that day was going to go very differently.

I did what I needed to do.

That day was definitely not the day that we had expected.

It's okay. You're gonna be okay.

As humans when things are at their worst, we are at our best.

The flight attendants and the passengers, when it was really the darkest of times,

they rose to the occasion.

We did everything we could with what we had.

There's people around us that are willing to help and want to help.

You know, we're all here for a reason.

And for some of us, that is to serve.

FERNHEIMER: I was able to really learn abou Jennifer

and learn who she is as a person

and learn how wonderful she is in the community

and the foundation that she has in her name.

The one thing that she wanted t do in this world was to spread kindness,

and even though she's no longer with us,

she's still doing that through other people.

Captioned by National Captioning Institute