Originally Posted by
hunbet
During the NTSB briefing that I watched a little while ago, the Chairman stated that they had the lower 1/3 of the blade. After the blade was liberated it fractured again and the outer 2/3 rds is missing.
"Fan blade separated in 2 places.
5 p.m.: There was a fatigue fracture where the #13 fan blade would have gone into the engine. That was the initiating event that caused a secondary failure of the jet engine."
News media is concentrating on the fact the plane landed at higher than normal speeds and the entire briefing isn't on youtube yet.
The NYTimes is quoting Sumwalt in today's briefing as saying that a fan blade was missing from the No. 2 engine as well.
...and that statement has since disappeared from the on-line edition of the Times.