SWA1380 - diversion to KPHL after engine event

[tdracer]

Originally Posted by CONSO

hey tdracer
.

Suggest you check post by silverstrata

SWA1380 - diversion to KPHL after engine event

for a plausible explanation as to path of missing blade

which would probably be enough to whack a chunk off of cowl/inlet

Conso, while there is a first time for everything, we did a lot of investigations of fan blade releases over the years. In some of the events, there was some low energy debris that did damage forward and aft of the fan containment ring (in most cases it didn't penetrate the acoustic lining), but never any indication of high energy debris missing or penetrating the containment ring.
Again, I've seen no evidence that the fan blade was uncontained or that was what took out the window. My personal theory is it was a large chunk of the disintegrating inlet that hit the fuselage. The question remains why the inlet broke up. The inlet is designed to withstand the aero loads inflight, and it's designed to withstand the forces (mainly vibration) from a fan blade out. It appears that perhaps the combination of those two loads was not adequately accounted for.