A Wells Fargo exec was killed after she was almost sucked out of her Southwest Airlines flight window following a mid-air explosion.
Jennifer Riordan, 43, a mother-of-two from Albuquerque, was returning from a business trip aboard the New York to Dallas flight when the plane’s left engine exploded sending shrapnel flying into a window next to her seat.
The banking executive was left hanging half outside the shattered window as fellow passengers desperately scrambled to drag her back inside the aircraft, which was carrying 149 people.
She was rushed to the hospital immediately after hero pilot Tammie Jo Shults took the plane into a sharp descent and made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport at 11.27am. Authorities confirm that she later died while seven other people were injured.
Shults, a former Navy fighter pilot and one of the first women to fly an F-18, quickly brought Flight 1380 to land having calmly told Air Traffic Control: ‘So we have a part of the aircraft missing.’
Asked if the plane was on fire, she said: ‘No, it’s not on fire but part of it’s missing. They said there is a hole and someone went out.’ She added that ‘we have injured passengers’ as she requested medical staff to meet them on landing. Passengers say that after landing the plane, the pilot took the time to speak to all those aboard personally.
Those on board said they heard a loud ‘boom’ and the Boeing 737-700 immediately dropped, they said, by what felt like 100ft. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and passengers said their prayers and braced for impact.
The National Transportation Safety Board has said a preliminary examination of the blown jet engine shows evidence of ‘metal fatigue.’
Jennifer Riordan, a mother-of-two from Albuquerque, was on a business trip when the plane’s left engine exploded sending shrapnel flying into a window next to her seat
Riordan (pictured with her husband) was rushed to the hospital immediately after the flight from New York to Dallas made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport at 11.27am, but authorities confirmed she later died
Riordan was sitting next to the smashed window and others next to her described holding her down for 12 minutes until the plane landed.
Passenger Alfred Tumlinson, of Corpus Christi, Texas, said he saw a man in a cowboy hat rush forward a few rows ‘to grab that lady to pull her back in. She was out of the plane. He couldn’t do it by himself, so another gentleman came over and helped to get her back on the plane, and they got her’.
Another passenger, Eric Zilbert, an administrator with the California Education Department, said: ‘From her waist above, she was outside of the plane.’
Passengers struggled to somehow plug the hole while giving the badly injured woman CPR.
Those on board did ‘some pretty amazing things under some pretty difficult circumstances’, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel said.
Amanda Bourman, of New York, said she was asleep near the back when she heard a loud noise and oxygen masks dropped.
‘Everybody was crying and upset,’ she said. ‘You had a few passengers that were very strong, and they kept yelling to people, you know, ‘It’s OK! We’re going to do this!”
‘I just remember holding my husband’s hand, and we just prayed and prayed and prayed. And the thoughts that were going through my head, of course, were about my daughters, just wanting to see them again and give them a big hug so they wouldn’t grow up without parents.’
Annunciation Catholic School, where her two children attend school, identified Riordan as the victim on Tuesday afternoon.
‘She was en route from New York when her plane experience (sic) trouble,’ assistant principal Amy McCarty wrote in an email to parents, according to ABQJournal.com. ‘At this point, the family needs all the prayers we can offer.’
Riordan, the wife of former City of Albuquerque Chief Operations Officer Michael, was the vice president of community relations for Wells Fargo Bank, New Mexico, and had been on a business trip for the bank at the time of the explosion.
Investigators examining the damaged engine of Southwest Airlines flight 1380 after it exploded in flight sending shrapnel into the fuselage, breaking a window and causing the plane to make an emergency landing
A U.S. NTSB investigator is on scene examining damage to the engine of the Southwest Airlines plane in this image released from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Hero pilot Tammie Jo Shults (pictured) brought the plane down quickly but safely after the crash, saving the lives of the others on board
The 43-year-old, a graduate of the University of New Mexico, was heavily involved with her local community and volunteering.
Riordan managed Wells Fargo’s community projects and its annual United Way Community Support Campaign.The devastated family of Riordan has released a statement paying tribute to her.
‘Jennifer’s vibrancy, passion, and love infused our community and reached across our country. Her impact on everything and everyone she touched can never be fully measured. But foremost, she is the bedrock of our family. She and Mike wrote a love story unlike any other. Her beauty and love are evident in her children.
‘We so appreciate the outpouring of support from family, friends and our community. We do ask that those who seek to express their condolences and prayers, as well as the media outlets, respect our privacy at this time. Our family and friends need this time to both grieve and celebrate Jennifer’s impact on us all.
‘In her memory, please remember to always be kind, loving, caring and sharing.’
Mayor of Albuquerque Tim Keller added: ‘Today, Albuquerque lost a thoughtful leader who has long been part of the fabric of our community. We are asking that everyone respects the privacy of the family at this time.
‘This is a tremendous and tragic loss for Jenifer’s family and many others throughout our city. Her leadership and philanthropic efforts made this a better place every day and she will be terribly missed.
This is the window which was shattered by a piece of shrapnel from an exploding engine on a Southwest Airlines flight on Tuesday morning. Witnesses said the female passenger sitting next to it was partially sucked out of the aircraft through the whole and had to be held down
This was the row of seats where the window was shattered. According to witnesses, passengers had to pull the woman back into the aircraft when she was sucked towards the window and some of her body was drawn through it
This was the view from on board the Southwest Airlines flight of the blown-out engine after the plane made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport. A piece of shrapnel from it flew backward and shattered the window
The window that was shattered was behind the engine that exploded. A piece of shrapnel flew backward and pierced it, depressurizing the cabin and almost sucking the woman in the seat through it
‘We are holding Jennifer and her family in our thoughts.’
Family friend John Benavidez tweeted: ‘My heart is broken with the news of my good friend Jennifer Riordan’s passing. She left a lasting mark on Albuquerque, NM, and UNM with her many contributions. If there was ever an angel on Earth, it was Jennifer. Our prayers go out to her family.’
Before the NTSB’s announcement that there was one fatality involved, the Philadelphia Fire Commissioner said she was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
‘One passenger, a woman, was partially drawn out towards the out of the plane, she was pulled back in by other passengers,’ Todd Bauer, the father of another passenger on board, told NBC 10.
Terrified passengers shared videos and photos from on board before the plane landed as they descended at 3,000ft per minute until they leveled out at 10,000ft.
One passenger filmed himself as he fitted his oxygen mask. ‘Something is wrong with our plane! It appears we are going down!
‘Emergency landing!! Southwest flight from NYC to Dallas!!’ Marty Martinez said as he broadcast live from the plane on Facebook.
He paid $8 to connect to WiFi as the plane was going down, he said, in order to say his goodbyes.
He is the passenger who later told CBS the woman’s injuries left ‘blood everywhere.’ There were confused reports from other passengers that someone on board suffered a heart attack.
Martinez added that the plane ‘smelled like ash’ once the window was open. He said flight attendants rushed over in shock and pleaded with passengers to cover up the hole.
Riordan, a married mother-of-two from Albuquerque (pictured with her family) was rushed to hospital after the explosion but died a short time later
Riordan, the wife of former City of Albuquerque Chief Operations Officer Michael (pictured with her) was the vice president of community relations for Wells Fargo Bank, New Mexico
The first sign of trouble was a loud noise which happened when the engine exploded. Timothy Bourman, 37, was sitting at the back of the plane when he said he heard a loud ‘boom’.
‘All the sudden, it felt like we dropped 100 feet. Everybody knew something’s going on.
‘This is bad, like really bad.’ A lot of people started panicking and yelling, just really scared.
‘We were kind of out of control for a while. It seemed like the pilot was having a hard time controlling the plane. Honestly, I think we just all thought we were going down,’ he told Philly.com.
Bourman, who was traveling with his wife, said they thought they were about to die until the pilot managed to gain control of the aircraft.
‘We’re just all really thankful to be alive right now. Thankful to God, thankful to that pilot,’ he added.
Matt Tranchin was sitting three rows behind the window that smashed. He described the chaos and said even the flight attendants were crying in fear.
‘Flight attendants rushed up. There was momentary chaos. Everyone kind of descended on where this hole was. As passengers, we weren’t sure if they were trying to cover up the hole, but the plane smelled like smoke.
‘There was ash coming through the ventilation system. We started dropping,’ he told ABC News.
‘As kind of an indication of how terrifying it was, some of the crew couldn’t hold back their horror.
‘And some were crying as they looked out through the open window onto the engine,’ he added.
Passenger Marty Martinez shared photographs and videos of himself on Facebook as the plane made its descent. He and other passengers are shown terrified as they hold their oxygen masks to their faces. He later said there was ‘blood everywhere’ as a result of the woman’s injuries
Firefighters rushed onto the aircraft after it made its emergency landing at 11.30am on Tuesday
As the plane made its descent towards Philadelphia, the crew warned passengers to brace for impact.
When the shrapnel pierced the window, it depressurized the cabin and triggered the oxygen masks. Despite the chaos in the air, others said the emergency landing was fairly calm and smooth.
One passenger told CNN: ‘It was a stable landing. We started descending, made the turn back to Philadelphia.
‘We were with one engine for maybe 10 minutes.
‘We decreased altitude from 8,000 to 5,000 and then when we finally landed it was relatively smooth, kind of a typical landing so the crew and the pilots did a fantastic job.’
Passengers were taken from buses to the airport. It is not the first time the malfunction has occurred on a Southwest-operated Boeing 737-700.
In August last year, a different flight from New Orleans to Orlando was forced to make an emergency landing at Pensacola Airport in Florida after the casing surrounding one of its engines tore away at a similar altitude.
On Tuesday, the airline manufacturer said it was aware of the accident and was prepared to cooperate with investigations.
‘Boeing is aware of an incident with Southwest Airlines flight #1380.
‘We are gathering more information and stand ready to provide technical assistance,’ it tweeted.
The engine which exploded is a CFM56 turbofan engine which costs $10million and has a fan diameter of 68 inches.
The engines are the most popular engines on single-aisle commercial planes and are used by all of Airbus A320 aircraft.
One of the plane’s engines exploded not long after it had left LaGuardia Airport in New York City on Tuesday morning. The damaged engine is visible above after the plane had landed
All of the other passengers on board were evacuated after the injured woman was taken away by paramedics
‘Heroes’: Passengers thanked the five crew members on board for saving their lives. According to witnesses, the female pilot told them to brace for impact before she made the ‘smooth’ emergency landing
The plane was on its way from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Dallas when it diverted in the air and turned back on itself to go to Philadelphia. It was flying over western Pennsylvania at around 32,500ft at the time
The faulty engine was almost entirely exposed after the plane had landed
The last time a passenger died in an accident on a U.S. airliner was 2009 when 49 people on board and one on the ground were killed when a Continental Express plane crashed on a house near Buffalo, New York.
Southwest has about 700 planes, all of them 737s, including more than 500 737-700s like the one in Tuesday’s accident. It is the world’s largest operator of the 737. The 737 is the best-selling jetliner in the world and has a good safety record.
The National Transportation Safety Board says a preliminary examination of the blown jet engine shows evidence of ‘metal fatigue.’
In a late-night news conference, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said one of the engine’s fan blades was separated and missing.
Sumwalt says the blade was separated at the point where it would come into the hub and there was evidence of metal fatigue.
He said part of the engine covering was found in Bernville, Pennsylvania, about 70 miles west of Philadelphia.
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said in Dallas that there were no problems with the plane or its engine when it was inspected Sunday.
The jet’s CFM56-7B engines were made by CFM International, jointly owned by General Electric and Safran Aircraft Engines of France. CFM said in a statement that the CFM56-7B has had ‘an outstanding safety and reliability record’ since its debut in 1997, powering more than 6,700 aircraft worldwide.
Last year, the engine maker and the Federal Aviation Administration instructed airlines to make ultrasonic inspections of the fan blades of engines like those on the Southwest jet. The FAA said the move was prompted by a report of a fan blade failing and hurling debris. But it was unclear whether the particular engine that failed on Tuesday was covered by the directives.
‘There’s a ring around the engine that’s meant to contain the engine pieces when this happens,’ said John Goglia, a former NTSB member. ‘In this case, it didn’t. That’s going to be a big focal point for the NTSB – why didn’t (the ring) do its job?’
In 2016, a Southwest Boeing 737-700 blew an engine as it flew from New Orleans to Orlando, Florida, and shrapnel tore a 5-by-16-inch hole just above the wing. The plane landed safely. The NTSB said a fan blade had broken off, apparently because of metal fatigue
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