The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) requiring initial and repetitive inspections of CFM56-7B engine fan blades in the wake of an in-flight blade failure last month that resulted in the death of a passenger on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380. The AD, which was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday and is effective May 14, 2018, aligns with CFM International service bulletins and actions by the European Aviation Safety Agency, FAA said.
The AD requires initial and repetitive inspections of the concave and convex sides of the fan blade dovetail, based on accumulated fan blade cycles, to detect cracking and replacement of any blades found cracked.
In response to the Southwest event, FAA issued an emergency AD (AD 2018-09-51) for certain high…
