canyonblue
Everyone loves Southwest
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Boeing CEO: Poor work caused hole in Southwest jet
April 27, 2011 2:26 PM ET
By DAVID KOENIG, JOSHUA FREED
CHICAGO (AP) - The CEO of Boeing Co. says workmanship and not poor design led to a hole ripping open in a plane that the company built for Southwest Airlines Co.
CEO Jim McNerney said Wednesday that signs do not point to a problem affecting large numbers of the Boeing 737.
A Boeing 737 operated by Southwest developed a 5-foot (1.5-meter) rip in the roof while cruising 34,000 feet (more than 10,000 meters) above Arizona on an April 1 flight.
Federal investigators found problems with riveting work done when the plane was built 15 years ago. The National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report this week that holes drilled in the plane's skin were too big for the rivets and were not properly lined up.
Independent experts said such problems would increase stress on the plane's aluminum skin panels, leading to metal fatigue.
McNerney was asked on a conference call Wednesday what the company had learned about the Southwest jet.
"The initial data that I think we're all seeing is suggesting a possible workmanship issue on an airplane rather than a design issue across a fleet of airplanes," McNerney said. He emphasized the word "an" to downplay any suggestion of a wider problem.
After the Southwest incident, Boeing told airlines to immediately inspect nearly 200 other 737s that were built with a similar design to the one that cracked open above Arizona, including about 80 owned by Southwest.
Most of those inspections have been done. Southwest found five other planes with cracks, but no other airlines have discovered problems, according to Boeing and government officials.
McNerney said the findings with the Arizona jet stood out, even from other planes that also had cracks. Boeing has collected pieces of several of the planes, and McNerney said the company's own examination was continuing.
The affected Southwest planes were all built from 1994 to 1996 at the same Boeing factory. Boeing says later models of the 737, starting around 2000, have a different design in which aluminum panels overlap on the roof and should not be prone to the same cracking problem.
April 27, 2011 2:26 PM ET
By DAVID KOENIG, JOSHUA FREED
CHICAGO (AP) - The CEO of Boeing Co. says workmanship and not poor design led to a hole ripping open in a plane that the company built for Southwest Airlines Co.
CEO Jim McNerney said Wednesday that signs do not point to a problem affecting large numbers of the Boeing 737.
A Boeing 737 operated by Southwest developed a 5-foot (1.5-meter) rip in the roof while cruising 34,000 feet (more than 10,000 meters) above Arizona on an April 1 flight.
Federal investigators found problems with riveting work done when the plane was built 15 years ago. The National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report this week that holes drilled in the plane's skin were too big for the rivets and were not properly lined up.
Independent experts said such problems would increase stress on the plane's aluminum skin panels, leading to metal fatigue.
McNerney was asked on a conference call Wednesday what the company had learned about the Southwest jet.
"The initial data that I think we're all seeing is suggesting a possible workmanship issue on an airplane rather than a design issue across a fleet of airplanes," McNerney said. He emphasized the word "an" to downplay any suggestion of a wider problem.
After the Southwest incident, Boeing told airlines to immediately inspect nearly 200 other 737s that were built with a similar design to the one that cracked open above Arizona, including about 80 owned by Southwest.
Most of those inspections have been done. Southwest found five other planes with cracks, but no other airlines have discovered problems, according to Boeing and government officials.
McNerney said the findings with the Arizona jet stood out, even from other planes that also had cracks. Boeing has collected pieces of several of the planes, and McNerney said the company's own examination was continuing.
The affected Southwest planes were all built from 1994 to 1996 at the same Boeing factory. Boeing says later models of the 737, starting around 2000, have a different design in which aluminum panels overlap on the roof and should not be prone to the same cracking problem.
