Southwest has backed themselves into a corner, and now must attend a hearing on some pretty serious charges.
Apparently Southwest has been operating many planes (117 to be exact) without proper saftey inspections. Due to a few crashes of 737 aircraft in the past, 737's being the only aircraft operated by Southwest, these aircraft must undergo inspections of the rudder and for metal fatigue on a regular basis.
It seems as though some of Southwest's 737 have gone up to 30 months without an inspection. These are some serious issues brought up by two FAA inspector who are claiming that some FAA administrators have relaxed the rules on purpose for Southwest, as to not interrupt regular flight schedules. As far as I can tell, 30 months is not "relaxing" the rules as much as breaking right through them and leaving their shattered remains in the dust.
This is a huge problem, as it risked passenger lives, and overall may have been part of the reason that Southwest has been turning profits and bragging, when other airlines struggle.
This is unacceptable, saftey is always the first and foremost in any situation.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Southwest Under the Microscope
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2 comments:
i dont understand how they can go 30 months without inspection? I mean, did they assume everything would just be the same as it was before?
How can they get away with that?
Well, unfortunately they got away with it for a while, possible because of people in the FAA purposely overlooking the issue, or maybe something else. In the end they are going to pay for this, they have just been fined $10 million for this so far. More penalties and such may come.
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