Southwest Airlines flight experiences engine explosion but makes a safe landing in Philadelphia... 5

[JohnRBaker]

My 15 minutes of fame ;-)

I've been quoted before, in a couple of professional journals and at least one book (on the history of CAD), but in those cases, I was contacted prior to the quotes/references being published.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

In future I'm sitting on the right side of the aisle only.

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts."

 

[IRstuff]

A big enough hole would make your seat position irrelevant.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[djhurayt]

I have to ask:
Why the RIGHT SIDE of the aisle?

assuming this is a right/left statement, and not a right/wrong statement

And if it is a right/wrong statement, what make one side or the other the CORRECT side?

 

You're trying to confuse me and it's working.

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts."

 

[ScottyUK]

If the disc bursts of the other side then the likelihood is that it will hit the fuselage below floor level, or that's the perception: I'm not sure whether that will actually be how it unfolds in reality. If the cowling or nacelle breaks up then the trajectory of the parts will be somewhat unpredictable. And as IRstuff notes, with a big enough hole the impact point won't really matter except to the crash investigators.

 

[3DDave]

The Aloha Air accident suggests that the size of the hole is not proportional to the chance of a crash.

 

[SnTMan]

I used to always sit at the tail. Last part to hit anything

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[SwinnyGG]

Unless you're flying Air France....

 

[Comcokid]

3DDave - Interesting you brought up the Aloha Air accident. There is some evidence that this accident was a little more complex than just high-cycles, corrosion, and the thinner structure of an early model 737. A smaller hole opened up just above the stewardess, who then was propelled into the hole and stuck momentarily. Then the major portion of the front cabin ceiling ripped away. The suggested evidence is that it was a differential pressure air-rush burst effect, somewhat similar to a water-hammer effect.

 

[3DDave]

Water hammer works best with incompressible fluids that are not self-cushioning. With re-compression, the air should have reached the stagnation pressure - which is the ordinary cabin pressure - less thermodynamic losses.

Most of the investigators discounted the theory. If nothing else, the aerodynamic forces applied to the flight attendant seem insufficient to lift her from the floor, and accelerate her to the opening overhead. It would mean that the rest of the structure, which could withstand the fully pressurized cabin was unable to withstand the lower pressure levels from the original, major leak.

The evidence was a speculation. Neither the flight attendant or the missing fuselage were ever recovered.

 

[Sparweb]

Comcokid,
Respectfully, you are repeating the "urban myth" of Aloha Airlines flight 243 accident. Please refer to the below:
NTSB Investigation Report

I will save you from reading all 267 pages. Widespread cracking damage was found in the fuselage skin, not only in the damage area but also near it. Each of the cracks was small but many were visually detectable (though they weren't found in previous inspections). Any individual crack would have been negligible, but in combination the total strength of the skin was reduced and continuing to diminish with every flight... There were enough cracks and they were stressed enough to slowly grow... until the inevitable. Detailed examination of almost EVERY 737 aircraft in the world revealed that many had similar cracking that could lead to similar accidents. Similar examination of other similar aircraft types revealed that some of them TOO had damage like this (not just a Boeing problem). It turned out to be a widespread inspection problem, and everyone had to do a better job of examining aircraft structure from then on.

That accident (and some similar ones) were held up as examples for reference that mandated a substantial change in which all aircraft of this class and larger are designed and maintained. Many fundamental things about the design philosophy were changed. The terms "Multi-site Damage" and "Widefield Damage" became familiar. Soon after, the design philosophy of "Damage Tolerance" became the basis of all new aircraft design. Quite a few old aircraft like the 737 were "fixed" with DT philosophy, too.


STF

 

[JohnRBaker]

You could also go back to the early 50's with the DeHavilland Comet where much of what we know today about metal fatigue and how to mitigate it's impact was was first being learned, unfortunately, the hard way:

http://aerospaceengineeringblog.com/dehavilland-comet-crash/

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[BridgeSmith]

"...those of us who live on or near the prairie know that, indeed, the wind does suck."

While technically whether something is sucked or blown depends on the direction the pressure differential relative the atmospheric pressure (lower local pressure sucks, higher local pressure blows), we say the wind in Wyoming is strong because Montana blows and Colorado sucks.

 

[LittleInch]

More data released by NTSB

https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20180503.aspx

and

full report at

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations...=release&utm_campaign=mr&utm_content=aviation

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.