FAA Will Order Enhanced Inspections Of Engine Model That Blew Up

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The FAA is preparing to issue an order requiring enhanced inspections of the engine model involved in Tuesday's fatal explosion on Southwest Airlines flight #1380.

The agency said the airworthiness directive would be released within the next two weeks.

NTSB investigators almost immediately focused attention on a missing fan blade that separated from its hub.

"Our preliminary examination of this revealed there's evidence of metal fatigue where the blade separated," said NTSB Chair Robert Sumwalt at a press conference Tuesday evening.

Southwest Airlines quickly announced it would voluntarily be "accelerating its existing engine inspection program" to perform ultrasonic inspections of fan blades on CFM56 engines within the next 30 days.

Less than 24 hours later, the FAA warned it would issuing its directive affecting certain CFM56-7B engines, requiring an ultrasonic inspection of fan blades after "a certain number" of takeoffs and landings.

"See those fan blades? One of those has a crack or is out of balance, the whole engine goes," said aviation expert Denny Kelly, pointing at a diagram of the engine.

Kelly said ultrasonic inspections use a light electrical current to seek out weakness in the metal of the fan blades.

"If there's a crack, it tells you where it is," he said.

More routinely perform inspections, he said, only reveal issues visible along the exterior of the blade.

If the newly ordered inspections reveal a pattern, though, Kelly believes they could lead to new procedures that can prevent future engine failures.