After Last Month’s Deadly Accident, South West Faces Another Mid-flight Scare

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Is There A Bigger Issue At Hand?

On April 17th, 2018, a South West flight from New York to Dallas had to make an emergency landing due to an engine explosion. The debris went through the window of the aircraft and partially pulled out a passenger, ultimately causing her death.

South West launched a subsequent investigation into the incident and routinely checked all their fan blades which were thought to be the cause of the accident. Thus far, all maintenance records are proving to be in order and no other incidents occurred since then.

@SouthwestAir #WN957 diverts and makes emergency landing in CLE due to busted window pic.twitter.com/OJMZ5KTyMS

— Chaikel (@ChaikelK) May 2, 2018

On May 2nd, however, South West Flight No. 957 heading to Newark from Chicago was flying at 26,000 ft. when one of the exterior window panes cracked while the aircraft was going over 500 mph. As the airline reiterated in their statement saying every Boeing 737-700 has multiple layers that compose each window, the flight retaining pressure.

The aircraft was diverted to Cleveland, however, and the passengers were put on another flight and delivered to their destination declaring a “non-emergency” landing. 

The question, however, is why are all these commercial flights having issues lately. From South West to Delta, the beginning of this year is littered with flight emergency issues with no real explanations from carriers as to what the issues are. 

All in all, the FAA is ensuring the United States has one of the safest, if not the safest, track record in the world, but recent incidents are putting some shade on that on an individual passenger basis.