More information is coming out about the Southwest Airlines’ Boeing 737-300 that had a hole open up on its roof during flight Friday afternoon.The 737-300s have been around since 1981 and are probably the oldest variant of the 737 Southwest is still flying. They were built through 1999. Southwest has an all-737 fleet, but that includes several variants of the plane. You can usually tell the newer ones by the winglets sticking up from the ends of the wings. The older variants didn't have those (they improve the aerodynamics of the airplane and reduce drag).
The flight was on its way from Phoenix to Sacramento when it had to divert to Yuma, Arizona.
CBS 11 looked through FAA records online and found more than 100 reports from 1999 through this year.
Records show the airline repaired a small crack in the slat on the underside of the plane’s left wing just last week.
The FAA’s records also show there were multiple small cracks found on the frame and fuselage during scheduled inspections last year and in 2006.
The FAA records show the cracks were all repaired. Aviation experts say cracks are routinely found on the skin of older jets and repaired.
I saw one lefty try and make a union issue out of this, claiming that because Southwest outsources some of their airplane maintenance that somehow a union would have saved the day. Not likely. These things are bound to happen as airline fleets get older, especially on short haul airlines in which the aircraft may make several flights a day. The stresses of repeated pressurizations, not to mention the usual bumps and bounces of flight, are going to take their toll.
Posts
2 comments:
The planes are not being maintained. That cuts into profits, what few can still be achieved in air travel. We've got pilots, or first officers making barely livable wages, the people we're praying will keep us alive. We simply get packed in like rolled sardines assuming we pass muster in the racial profiling at the gate.
And prior to these effronteries, we're insulted, injured, cattle-prodded into long lines waiting to be molested or irradiated. What's not to like about this system?
Thank god that plane landed safely, and thank god others have also by the efforts of the underpaid, if not under-appreciated flight officers. May we all be so fortunate.
I do hope its not only the South West planes their inspecting a lot. Safety regulations shouldn't be scrap due to business matters, were do not want to gamble lives here.
Post a Comment