Original subtitles

[Suspenseful Music]

[Ellisor] What the?

[John Cox] 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.

[Captain Shults] You've still got it!

[Narrator] Flight attendants make a horrifying discovery.

[Wind Whooshing]

-[Plane Whooshing] -[Suspenseful Music]

[Flight Attendant] Ladies and gentlemen,

we are starting our approach.

[Pilot] We lost both engines!

[Flight Attendant] Put the mask over your nose.

-Emergency descent. -[Pilot] Mayday, mayday!

[Flight Attendant] Brace for impact!

[Dramatic Music]

[Pilot] It's gonna crash!

[Melancholy Music]

[Narrator] Southwest Airlines flight 1380

is boarding for a trip to Dallas, Texas.

Andrew Needum is a firefighter

and paramedic on his way home

after a family vacation in New York City.

We took a trip kinda as a year end

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.

144 passengers settle in to this sold-out flight.

[Suspenseful Music]

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.

[John Cox] Tammie Jo Shults.

She is a formal Naval Aviator.

Flew during the Gulf War,

Operation Desert Storm,

and also flew aerial firefighting 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 sights

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.

[Narrator] The crew flew in earlier today from Nashville.

The four hour trip to Dallas

will be their second and final flight today.

[Flight Attendant] In front of you, you'll find

a flight safety information card. Please take it out...

[Narrator] Flight attendant Rachel Fernheimer

started with Southwest Airlines just two years ago.

[Rachel Fernheimer] I love my job.

I would have to say it's the people.

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

and talk them through what they need me to

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

[Narrator] Rachel is working with her colleague,

Seanique Mallory.

[Peaceful Music]

[Plane Whooshing]

At 10:42 AM, flight 1380 takes off on time.

[Captain Shults] V-1.

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 in a heavy airplane,

it does affect your performance.

It makes the airplane

less responsive.

[Narrator] As flight 1380 climbs to cruising altitude,

controllers at LaGuardia hand the flight over

to New York area controllers.

[Laguardia Atc] Southwest 1380,

contact New York Center, 133.47.

Copy that, 1380.

[Suspenseful Music]

[Plane Whooshing]

[Narrator] Twenty minutes after takeoff.

Thank you.

[Plane Rattling]

[Plane Whooshing]

Everything changed.

What the?

We had a...

very large bang.

We had multiple warnings going off in the cockpit

and a very severe

vibration throughout the entire plane.

[Cox] 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 engine instruments

because the vibration was so severe.

It was just a blur of colors.

And so I can't see anything.

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.

[Captain 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.

[Ellisor] 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 New York Center] All right, Southwest 1380.

Okay, where would you like to go?

To which airport?

[Captain Shults] Give us a vector to your nearest airfield.

[Atc New York Center] 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.

[Dramatic Music]

[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.

[Captain Shults] Philadelphia.

[Narrator] Flight 1380 is now falling fast.

Unsure of what's wrong with their aircraft,

the pilots update the passengers.

[Captain Shults] Ladies and gentlemen.

This is your captain. We're going into Philadelphia.

Remain seated. Thank you.

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

[Ellisor] 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 checklist

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.

[Captain 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] And 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?

[Suspenseful Music]

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,

there's a call from the cabin.

Hello?

[Seanique] A window is open and somebody is out the window!

[Plane Whooshing]

-[Suspenseful Music] -[Plane Whooshing]

[Narrator] Flight 1380 is just 20 minutes

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

Suddenly,

crisis strikes.

There's a very, very loud noise

that is repeating over and over again,

like a big loud pounding of the aircraft.

I didn't know what was happening.

[Andrew Needum] Just metal on metal, shearing grinding,

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.

And 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 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. -[People Screaming]

One passenger uses his phone

to film the chaos in the cabin.

It was just screams of terror

throughout the cabin of the airplane.

[People Screaming]

The noise was just immense

and the shaking was violent.

[Plane Rattling]

-[Seanique] What's happening? -Jump seats.

[Fernheimer] And 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 by row.

[Plane Whooshing]

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 seat belt 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. It's 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 part way out of the plane.

I was trying to pull Jennifer back into the plane.

I remember saying out 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 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?

-[Plane Whooshing] -[Suspenseful Music]

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.

[Suspenseful Music]

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.

-[Suspenseful Music] -[Plane Whooshing]

[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.

-[Suspenseful Music] -[Plane Whooshing]

[Narrator] 6,000 feet over Pennsylvania,

Southwest flight 1380 has lost its left engine

and suffered a rapid decompression.

Is everyone else still in a seat, 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.

We weren't getting anywhere.

[Cox] The big factor for the passenger was

that they went into very high energy air.

It's a 300 plus mile an hour wind.

They would be subjected to brutal forces.

Slow it down to 210 knots right now.

[Narrator] In the cockpit,

First Officer Ellisor has thought of a way

he can help with Riordan's rescue.

I turned to Tammie Jo and I said,

we need 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.

[Dramatic Music]

We got her!

We got her!

[Narrator] First Officer Ellisor's hunch

pays off.

The slower speed allows rescuers 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.

I felt for a pulse

and started chest compressions.

It was never a sense of, "Is she still with us?"

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 International 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.

Sorry, there was a hole on someone went out?

[Ellisor] Yes.

Southwest 1380.

It doesn't matter. We'll work it out there.

The airport's just off to your right.

[Suspenseful Music]

[Narrator] Flight 1380 descends to 3000 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?

That's 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, well, we're gonna land with flaps five.

-Give me a speed for flaps five. -148.

[Narrator] There's no guidance in the manuals

for a flaps five single-engine landing.

The pilots need to calculate

the right airspeed for the maneuver.

148, 160 plus 20.

180!

[Ellisor] 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.

[Plane Whooshing]

[Narrator] At an altitude of just 1000 feet

and three miles from

Philadelphia International Airport,

the pilots prepare for an emergency landing.

In the cabin,

two passengers are still trying

to revive Jennifer Riordan.

[Fernheimer] I start seeing, you know,

trees and grass very, very quickly.

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 wanna give up.

[Fernheimer] 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 positions.

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.

[Philadelphia Tower] Southwest 1380, runway 27 left.

Cleared to land.

27 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.

[Suspenseful Music]

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 a reverse thrust

from only one engine to slow them down.

They might not have enough runway to stop safely.

[Ellisor] 50 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.

[Suspenseful Music]

[Fernheimer] Anything could happen to this plane right now.

We don't know the damage.

Is there going to be an explosion?

-[Suspenseful Music] -[Plane Whooshing]

[Narrator] Flight 1380 races towards an emergency landing

at Philadelphia International Airport.

30 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.

We did not wanna do a go around.

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

as possible 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 on to me.

[Dramatic Music]

[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.

[Melancholy Music]

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 passenger

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.

[Melancholy Music]

Jennifer Riordan is the first fatality

on an American airliner in more than nine years.

With the tragic loss of one passenger,

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 coordinates a team

of air crash 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 determined

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 engine

so it's clear there was no in-flight fire.

It's quickly obvious to investigators

what tore the engine apart.

-Fan blade did this. -[Suspenseful Music]

[Narrator] During normal operation,

a fan at the front of the engine

rotates approximately 5,000 times per minute.

24 fan blades force air backwards

to feed the engine's turbines.

It's a crucial part of a jet engine.

The fan at the front of the engine is responsible

for 90% of the thrust of the engine.

[Plane Whooshing]

[Narrator] But one of the 24 blades

of the fan on the left side broke off mid-flight.

[Investigator] Got impact markings here.

[Narrator] When investigators look closely

at the remains of the broken fan blade,

they find markings they recognize.

You 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.

[Jim Wildey] This is most likely fatigue cracking.

Fatigue cracking is insidious.

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

and it continues to grow over time

and unless this crack is detected,

it's gonna lead to the 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, 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.

-[Plane Whooshing] -[Suspenseful Music]

[Narrator] But a fatigue crack in a single fan blade

caused catastrophic damage to flight 1380,

resulting in the death of passenger.

How could that have happened?

[Suspenseful Music]

NTSB investigators wondered if engineers were doing

the proper maintenance to prevent a fan blade

from breaking mid-flight.

Which blade is it?

Thirteen.

[Moss] Catching a fatigue crack at an early stage

is absolutely critical

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 to 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 a 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] Fan blades on this engine were overhauled in 2012

and that means they were all removed.

The coatings were stripped, they were inspected,

and then everything was reapplied

and they were reinserted.

[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 Airlines after the overhaul?

They're supposed to be lubricated

and visually inspected between 1500 and 3000 flights.

There's seven more routine checks here.

They're all comprehensive, all done on time.

[Suspenseful Music]

[Cox] This was the appropriate

and approved maintenance process

that all technicians used at that time.

[Suspenseful Music]

[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.

A 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.

[Suspenseful Music]

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 equitable 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 a 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.

This crack could've 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.

-[Suspenseful Music] -[Plane Buzzing]

[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.

[Plane Rattling]

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.

[Suspenseful Music]

[Narrator] Investigators need to know

why engineers didn't find the crack

on the fan blade that caused the tragedy on Southwest 1308.

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 discoveries that industry regulators

were slow to adopt new, more powerful technologies.

It's unfortunate that technologies existed 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 cracks 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've

found the crack,

it's possible, but this wasn't approved at the time

and it 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 turbofan 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 engine.

So these cowlings will actually open up.

[Narrator] Investigators determine

that when the 11-pound 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, 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.

[Suspenseful Music]

Row 14, just on the right.

[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.

[Plane Whooshing]

Jennifer Riordan sitting in seat 14A

is sucked out the window.

It's okay.

You're gonna be okay, it's okay.

[Fernheimer] When I first saw a 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 Ellisor

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.

[Ellisor] 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.

[Melancholy Music]

[Suspenseful Music]

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.

[Tool Beeps]

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 Ellisor

is recognized around the world.

We're not heroes, no.

Tammie Jo and I, we 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.

[Melancholy Music]

[Fernheimer] I was able to really learn about 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 to 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.