tdracer
However, having been involved in several FAA AD's over the years, 8 months and it's still not released is inexcusable. AD's by definition affect flight safety. Normal flow time for a 'routine' AD is a couple months - seldom going much beyond 3 months even if there are lots of comments (emergency AD's don't go through public comment and can go out in a few days). While getting the blade inspection AD released may not have affected this accident, it's pretty clear to me that someone in the FAA dropped the ball.
A lot to agree on above, except what office issues the AD and under what supporting arguments? After all the engine was safely shut down according to it's certificate. It's only in conjunction with the design of the aircraft certification that it progressed or might have progressed to an unsafe result. If it was an FAA guy in the engine section writing the words in the AD he might have gotten a lot of push back by the operators about the assumptions and had to go back to both Boeing and GE to substantiate responses to comments.
I predict that this will all come out in a public hearing chaired by the NTSB
he who breaks the crockery must pick up the pieces