A similar engine fault behind a fatal mid-air engine explosion that punctured a passenger jet window was reported in 2016, it has emerged.
A female passenger died after she was nearly sucked from the cabin of a Southwest Airlines flight travelling from New York to Dallas on Tuesday.
Investigators say there was a fault with the engine’s fan blades – the cause of the incident two years ago.
US aviation authorities are to order inspections of similar jet engines.
Southwest Airlines Flight 1380, a Boeing 737 which was carrying 149 people, was forced to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia airport on Tuesday following a fault with one of its CFM56-7B engines.
An initial investigation found evidence of metal fatigue where a fan blade had broken off, according to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
A similar incident was recorded in 2016 involving a Southwest flight that landed safely in Florida.
Fan blades that have undergone a certain number of flights will have to be given ultrasonic tests, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said.
It added that the “airworthiness directive”, which will require inspections of a large number of CFM56-7B engines, would be issued within the next two weeks.
