The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) both have issued updated airworthiness directives (ADs) requiring more frequent CFM International CFM56-7B engine fan blade inspections. The new EASA AD is effective Oct. 5 and the FAA AD is effective Oct. 16.
In the weeks after the fatal uncontained engine failure on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380, operated with a CFM56-7B–powered Boeing 737-700, FAA and EASA issued ADs requiring initial and repetitive ultrasonic or eddy current inspections of CFM56-7B fan blades. At the time, the inspection interval was set at every 3,000 cycles. But since FAA issued AD 2018-10-11 in May, “CFM gained a better understanding of the fan blade failures based on the inspections and f…
