Rigorous inspections and maintenance, redundant systems, and well-thought-out safety procedures make air travel remarkably safe. Sadly, Southwest 1380 reminded us it’s not risk-free.
Behind the fatal was an explosive engine failure, possibly caused by fan-blade separation. In aviation terms: uncontained engine failure followed by explosive decompression.
Hollywood portrayals of explosive decompression scare many fliers. We learned this first-hand last year during pre-buy on a Gullfstream. A tiny darkening by a cockpit window frame might have hid a crack. The buyer insisted on replacement. He feared a mid-flight crack would suck his pilots out of the aircraft.
A scary thought. Statistically, it’s an irrational fear. 1380 was a freak accident. Pilot-journalist Patrick Smith agrees. Looking at the Southwest incident he writes: “The vast majority of decompressions are harmless. Even sudden decompressions — such as when engine parts tear through a window, as apparently happened on Tuesday — are pretty easy to deal with. “
Mythbusters simulated an airborne explosion blowing out a window to see if catastrophic decompression would suck out passengers, ala Hollywood:
The conclusion was prescient: “I wouldn’t want to be sitting near that window when that happened, but, you know…these kinds of things that you see in the movies…I don’t really think so.”
Unfortunately, Ms. Riordan was sitting by “that window.” Her upper body was sucked out. The subsequent impact trauma was fatal.
Despite the tragedy, Southwest 1380 demonstrated how safe air travel really is. A rare, catastrophic event caused massive damage–yet the aircraft landed safely.
On the packed commercial flights that are the new norm, in coach, over-wing window is usually a desirable seats. But Southwest 1380 and Mythbusters showed that, as with all things, being in the right place at the wrong time has potential consequences.
Here’s the actual ATC audio.