New Executive Order Knocks Down Old Barriers

Southwest Airlines (SWA), Flight 1380, was climbing through 32,000 feet on the morning of April 17, 2018. At approximately 11:03 am, fan blade No. 13 of the left engine shattered along a previously undetected stress fracture. A 12-inch section, weighing about 6.825 pounds and a two-inch section of a fan blade weighing .650 pounds, separated from the rest of the fan blade assembly that had last been overhauled 10,712 cycles before the event. The result was an uncontained failure of the aircraft’s engine and the sudden decompression of the cabin with fatal injuries . . .