Traveling by air is easier to avoid than traveling by car. A person who develops a crippling fear of flying can still live a productive life while pledging to never board an aircraft again. A person who develops a crippling fear of travel by car has a much bigger problem; they are more likely to work on overcoming that fear instead of caving in to it.
It’s not just engines that can RUD on you. Anyone remember the flight in Hawaii that came apart like a sardine can?
In the bad old days, the ground inspections used to find cabin air leaks by noting the nicotine stains on the OUTSIDE of the aircraft:eek:
I think the blade failure is irrelevant. Blades fail. What’s more interesting is why the blade failure caused the inlet cowling to fail.
The manufacturer of the engine, CFM International, recommends ultrasound inspections of the blades to do just this. But in the US airlines are not required to follow manufacturers’ recommendations. It is required by European carriers since last March. The FAA did propose a directive to do this last year - it will take effect in two weeks.
Given the blood on her face, I’d guess that it broke the window and hit her, and that she was injured even before she was pulled out. I’m sure being partially outside the plane didn’t help, but it doesn’t sound like that was the cause of death.
True – my WAG would be the failed blade or pieces thereof were somehow deflected into the forward cowling with high energy, causing a big rip and deformation and creating further fragments, and then aerodynamic forces take over and shred the compromised nacelle (and send debris overwing at the windows). But that apparently is not what is the expected behavior of such a failure.
Yeah, was hearing that on the news, just two weeks away from the new rule. Though of course it does not happen instantly anyway, it takes some time to get to every engine in the fleet.
I heard on the news she died from from blunt force trauma.
whether it was the fan blade or window frame it would have been a substantial amount of force transmitted to her head.
I just think that having been on a flight that has a window blow out or in and maybe having a person getting sucked out is a bit more emotionally scarring than just having a bird, not belittling anyone with that, just two different scenarios for me.
Oh I didnt mean they havent improved the inspections but hopefully get on it faster…
The bird got sucked into the engine, the engine caught on fire, and pieces of the engine cowling were falling off the airplane. That’s a bit more than just a bird.
Granted, having the window blow out, and emergency dive to lower altitude, and having a fellow passenger is most likely more traumatizing, but please don’t trivialize a frightening experience because another is more frightening.
Mythbusters got the identical result.
Busters head and shoulders got wedged in the hole. I can remember Adam struggling to free him.
They never got Buster to fully exit the hole.
I never expected to see this happen for real.
It’s a horrible tragedy.
The problem with their test is that there wasn’t 400+ mph air passing over the fuselage. I once tried to re-latch the door on a Piper Arrow and it went badly. The door flexed enough to pull the latch out the frame and the door opened an inch. There was was no closing it at that point. The airspeed would have been about 140 mph.
Commercial jets are going over 400 mph and anything extending out into the slipstream is subject to those forces. Between the depressurization and the air going past the window it’s going to be like getting shot into a f5 tornado. It would be easy to exit the plane this way.
Passengers stated that the top half of her torso went out the window. If it was just her head the description would be quite different.
There was a teenage girl sitting beside her and another university professor (another lady - Hollie Mackie) tried pulling Jennifer in
The 2 girls could not pull her back in.
Then a big burly cowboy tried - Tim McGinty but he could not pull her in by himself. However, once a firefighter - Andrew Needum helped as well, they finally managed to pull her in.
Then a off duty nurse plus Andrew Needum gave her CPR but she was dead from her injuries.
The fact that it took 2 guys to pull her in shows how much force was pulling on her.
If she didn’t have her seat belt on, she would have been pulled completely out the window. She doesn’t look like a very big girl and no doubt would easily fit through the window. Then if the teenage girl beside her didn’t have her seat belt on, she would have probably been pulled through as well. (Speculation on my part)
as far as the engine damage, I read today that it was a contained failure. The fan blade remained in the engine and was recovered. The damage to the window was caused by a piece of the cowling. Something which I don’t believe is tested for. And I am not sure how one would test that-it would require a 400+ wind at 30,000 ft air pressure. Tough to replicate on the ground…
I think NASA may actually have that capability - they have the world’s largest vacuum chamber which could be evacuated to the proper (lack of) pressure. You’d have to install some sort of wind generator but the thing is HUGE. Also featured as a set in the 2013 Avengers movie, being basically the SHIELD research facility. Like I said, huge. You might be able to (temporarily) install a sufficient wind tunnel inside the vacuum chamber) to do such testing.
Probably also a pain in the butt and expensive to do all that, which might be why no one has bothered.
Death would have to be from her going thru the small window & possibly from getting caught in the windstream & hitting the fuselage. It’s one thing for shrapnel to hit the window & crack it, causing it to blow out. It’s quite another for shrapnel to hit the window break it, come in through the window clean enough to hit her with force, especially with pressure differential working against it; if that had happened, I’m sure it would have been seen by other passengers/recovered by NTSB. One might be able to wiggle their way thru an airplane window, given some time but to jump thru & not hit anything, damn near impossible, especially with one’s arms down.
Don’t forget the more time that passed, the more pressure was equalized, making it easier to pull her back in.
Good point!!
Even as the lower pressure, it still took significant effort for these 2 guys to pull her in.
They probably don’t really want engines being destructively tested inside of there, either. I think it voids the warranty.
::Update::
NTSB report is out. More bad news for Boeing, this time it’s the 737 NG; they’re going to need redesigned cowlings.
CNBC story link.