Airlines Inspecting Boeing 737 Engines After Fatal Southwest Accident

Major airlines are urgently inspecting all Boeing 737s in their fleets after Tuesday’s engine explosion on a Southwest Airlines flight killed one and injured seven others. The emergency on Flight 1380 was caused after a failed fan blade in its engine sent shrapnel ripping into the jet’s fuselage, smashing a window, which almost sucked a woman out the aircraft. Major Boeing customers, including Korean Air and Japan Airlines, confirmed Wednesday that they would be carrying out inspections on aircraft that have the same fan blade. A Korean Air official told Reuters as much as 30 percent of its 35 Boeing 737 jets use the same type of fan blade as the one on the Southwest jet. Japan Airlines said two of its aircraft have the same engine type and will be inspected Wednesday. But some Boeing 737 operators, such as Australia’s Qantas, said their 737 engines were slightly different from the Southwest type and won’t require inspection.