Passenger partially sucked out of window after jet engine part broke free, report finds

A new report details how a passenger was partially ejected from an aircraft window after a jet engine component broke free during a Southwest Airlines flight in 2018. On April 17, 2018, Southwest Airlines Flight 1380, a Boeing 737-700, was en route from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Dallas Love Field when its left engine suffered an uncontained failure over Pennsylvania. A fan blade fractured due to metal fatigue, causing debris to strike the fuselage and shatter a cabin window.

The sudden depressurization resulted in passenger Jennifer Riordan being partially pulled through the broken window before other passengers managed to bring her back inside. Tragically, she later died from blunt force trauma. Despite the severe damage and chaos, the flight crew successfully performed an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation determined that the probable cause of the incident was the fractured fan blade, which had developed a fatigue crack. Following the accident, the NTSB issued several safety recommendations to prevent similar occurrences.