Southwest sends engine fan blades for further inspection

Southwest Airlines’ chief executive officer, Gary Kelly, has confirmed this week that the airline has sent some aircraft-engine fan blades to GE for closer inspection, although the carrier’s own review found no faults like the one that caused a blade to crack in flight. Southwest has completed inspection on 35,500 blades, with zero findings, with only a few sent to the manufacturer for closer inspection, which Kelly does not expect to find any issues. Kelly said: “GE’s inspection protocol will identify a crack before it gets to the failure stage.”