Southwest Airlines cancels dozens of flights for engine inspections after passenger death

Can't read the article without subscription. That's not very helpful...

Pushing the envelope in engine design always has a way of coming back to bit, the days of the sales pitch of " Our engines stay on the wing forever and only use a teaspoon of fuel " are over or should be over, I remember an old friend who was Chief Inspector of Eastern telling me once, we have to do our best job inspecting our aircraft because if some breaks, the pilot can't pull over to the curb.

As a career airline pilot for the last 40 years I would like to weigh in on this conversation. First of all airliners and the engines that are on them are designed to last for decades. Even a narrow body such as the 737 retail cost is about $85 million dollars. They have to be designed to last for years to recover that type of an investment. The B-737 along with the CFM engine is one of the most reliable airliners/engines ever built. That being said, without proper care and maintenance it will fail. And sometimes even with proper care it can fail. I have 17 years of experience flying the 737-800 and the 737-200 along with other commercial airliners. I am a bit suspect of the care and maintenance that Southwest has given their aircraft. I believe that there have been at least 3 of their 737's have un-contained engine failures. Two have occurred in flight in the last 2 or three years. One was on the ground, but all three caused damage to the pressurized areas of the airplane. That is not normal. Maybe we will find out why when the NTSB completes their investigation.

My friend's flight from Denver to KLAS had being cancelled yesterday. She was put on another delta flight to KLAS to connect with the BA flight to london

Aircraft engines are routinely change based on time and cycles.

i'm sure there is nothing to it.
in 2016 when the SWA engine lost the cowling, it was the port engine.
now in 2016, the SWA engine lost the cowling, of the port engine.
kawinkydink
naaaaaaaaah

Here I go again. I am very educated in metal fatigue. It always is an accident that prompts checking engines. SWA Airplane is 18 years old when one of the blades broke off in flight. Aircraft over 10 years old should be sold to the "Fly by Night" Airlines. We are the USA and should be able to fly safely and accidents caused by metal fatigue should never happen.