The manufacturer of the jet engine that blew apart at 32,000 feet in a deadly accident aboard a Southwest Airlines flight wants more jets to be inspected for potential problems.
A spokeswoman for CFM International says the company plans to issue a service bulletin on Friday that would expand the number of engines to be checked beyond those in previous notifications.
At issue are the engine fan blades on Boeing 737s.
The National Transportation Safety Board believes one of the blades snapped on the Southwest flight Tuesday, hurling debris that broke a window and led to the death of a passenger who was sucked partway out of the plane. The jet, which was headed from New York to Dallas, made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.
The CFM 56-7B engines are on about 1,800 “new generation” 737s in service in the U.S. and about 6,400 worldwide.
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