Southwest Airlines Co. confirmed it has sent $5,000 checks to passengers aboard a flight that made an emergency landing this week after an engine failed, killing a passenger. The airline confirmed news reports from passengers it had sent the checks along with $1,000 travel vouchers. “We can confirm the communication and gesture are authentic and heartfelt,” the company said. The jet engine on Southwest flight 1380 blew apart over Pennsylvania on Tuesday, about 20 minutes after the Dallas-bound flight left New York’s LaGuardia Airport with 149 people on board. The engine debris shattered a window on the Boeing 737 plane, killing a passenger - the first death in a US airline accident since 2009. The plane made an emergency landing in Philadelphia. Southwest said it was accelerating its existing engine inspection program “out of an abundance of caution” and expected to complete it over the next 30 days. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) order will require ultrasonic inspection within the next six months of the fan blades on all CFM56-7B engines that have accrued a certain number of takeoffs. Others more recently serviced will require inspections within 18 months, the FAA draft order said.