PLANE HAS MIDAIR MALFUNCTION; ONE FATALITY

APRIL 19TH, 2018

On Tuesday, Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 suffered a catastrophic engine failure on it’s way to Dallas from New York at around 36,000 feet. This unfortunately caused the death of one Jennifer Riordan.

Halfway to its destination, Flight 1380’s engine exploded, sending shrapnel into the fuselage of the plane. The shrapnel ripped through one of the windows, the window belonging to Riordan’s seat.

Riordan was violently sucked halfway out of the plane. Her head, arms, and torso were outside of the aircraft for a couple minutes before other passengers were able to pull her back in. Peggy Phillips, a nurse, performed CPR on Riordan for about 20 minutes until they had realized she had passed away.

Riordan was an executive for Wells Fargo Bank and mother of two. Southwest Airlines released a statement about her death, and the incident in general, saying, “The entire Southwest Airlines Family is devastated and extends its deepest, heartfelt sympathy to the customers, employees, family members, and loved ones affected by this tragic event. We have activated our emergency response team and are deploying every resource to support those affected by this tragedy."

What Southwest plans to do to keep this from happening again is still to be determined.