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Recent Comments:
What's going to happen to Southwest Airlines? {Gadling}
Mar 16th 2008 8:03AM Come on John ...
The facts show that Southwest did not fly a single unsafe aircraft, much less attempt "murder on a massive scale."
Oberstar has other airlines as major contributors (Northwest and American), and he was pretty quiet when Northwest (in his home state) had a more serious problem reported by an FAA inspector a couple of years ago. Why don't you give him a little scrutiny, too.
Southwest grounds 41 Jets for "Safety related" issues. {Gadling}
Mar 16th 2008 7:42AM KenC ... not exactly.
The planes that were take out of service for inspection were not the same planes and the issue was not the same.
Southwest decided, because of their own internal investigation, to reinspect them based on an ambiguity in documentation. Repairs were made on a few (four I think) but no safety of flight issues were reported, and you can believe Southwest is reporting everything they find in their current situation.
I am flying Southwest several times next week, and I have zero concern about their safety.
Activists suggest boycott of "Air Kevorkian" {Gadling}
Mar 16th 2008 7:31AM I guess I exceeded the max length of a post so here's the rest.
================
During the re-inspection of the aircraft after Southwest self-disclosed their documentation had caused them to miss less than one percent of the areas to be inspected, the largest crack found was about four inches ... smaller than what real experts and real test data says presents a safety of flight issue.
Southwest made a mistake and corrected it, but at no time is there any evidence that they flew a single unsafe aircraft.
Activists suggest boycott of "Air Kevorkian" {Gadling}
Mar 16th 2008 7:22AM Yes, Thomas, let talk about the "cracks."
First, let's define what we are talking about. These cracks are microscopic ... difficult, if not impossible to see with the naked eye. I have watched the repair of such cracks, and the technician uses special lighting and magnifying glasses to see his work.
Here's what NTSB Investigator Gregory Feith had to say about the issue, which no one seems to be reporting.
"This Service Bulletin was based, in large part, on an inspection program developed by Southwest Airlines. The issuance of the AD was a continued effort to ensure that cracks in the fuselage skin on the Boeing 737 airplanes were identified and mitigated well before they could pose a safety of flight issue.
In addition, it is evident from the analysis and testing data developed by Boeing that cracks up to 6 inches in the fuselage skin do not compromise the structural integrity or pose a safety of flight issue. This is further supported by the design of the fuselage structure which incorporates 'internal reinforcing doublers in the skin assembly' and 'tearstraps,' both of which are intended to provide strength, and slow or abate the growth rate of a crack under normal operating aerodynamic loads.”
During the re-inspection of the aircraft after Southwest self-disclosed their documentation had caused them to miss
Activists suggest boycott of "Air Kevorkian" {Gadling}
Mar 16th 2008 7:04AM WOW John! You've studied the FAA and airlines for a WHOLE YEAR. How could anyone argue with such credentials :-)
I prefer to listen to more informed experts like Boeing and an NTSB inspector who say that even though Southwest missed of small portion of the surface that was to be inspected due to a typo in a task card (even though they DID inspect more than 99% of the surface), that none of the planes were, in fact, unsafe to fly when they were subsequently inspected.
Saying that Southwest made a mistake is true. Saying Southwest flew unsafe planes, according to experts who actually know something about it, is false.
I tried to use a many commas as possible.
