On Tuesday, April 17th, after a Southwest Airlines plane had an engine explosion at 32,000 feet in the air. In this incident, Jennifer Riordan was killed. The plane had left the New York Laguardia Airport just 20 minutes earlier, when the explosion of the engine caused a window to break. Although Riordan had been wearing her seatbelt, she was partially sucked out of the plane. A passenger reported that her upper body was outside of the plane, bleeding immensely from being hit by debris from the engine. Once people on the flight were able to bring her back in, she was severely injured and unconscious. She later died from blunt impact trauma to her head, neck, and torso. Riordan was a 43 years old bank executive in Albuquerque with 2 children. As her death is being mourned in her community, the Captain, Tammie Jo Shults, and First Officer, Darren Ellisor, from this flight have sent out a statement about the incident expressing their sympathy. Amira Young ‘18 says, “It is so sad and terrifying to hear about this. I start college in August and I will be taking many flights to come home. This could have happened to me or anyone.” This was the second time a Southwest Airlines plane had experienced a failed engine in the past two years. When asked if he would be opposed to flying Southwest Airlines in the future, Esme McCarthy ‘20 said, “I understand that airplanes can malfunction from time to time, but to hear that this is the second failed engine in two years is so scary. Clearly Southwest isn’t properly checking their equipment. I will not be flying with them anytime soon.” Officials are still trying to figure out the exact cause of this incident, but it is recommended that all airline companies begin doing more frequent, in depth inspections of their aircrafts.

Photo courtesy of Fox 5 NY