Cracks found at SWA

[SkiFishFly]

Pressure

With the pressure that is out there at all airlines to keep them flying and the pressure on all of our livelihoods in the current economic environment - Does anyone really think this or something similar could not or does not occur at their airline?

All I know is that Kharma - she is a real biatch.

 

[Bavarian Chef]

Maybe the cracks came from excessive taxi speeds ...

Just kidding.

 

[Yuppyguppy]

The guy just posted an updated article indicating that cracks were found on 4 aircraft. He made no comment on 'bringing you down.' In fact, he made no comments at all. Talk about thin skinned.

I'm starting to think that it isn't kool aid that they put in the water at Southwest; it's progesterone.

Too Funny!

 

[Donald]

I check for cracks on every leg. Some I ignore, but some I'd like to thoroughly inspect.

 

[lowecur]

Air Kevorkian?

Said John J. Tormey III, Esq., attorney and Quiet Rockland co-founder: "The persons that should be flying Southwest at this point, should be only those referred by Doctor Kevorkian. Although the depraved Southwest spin-machine audaciously 'assures' us Southwest's four (4) cracked-fuselage aircraft were "never a safety problem", Southwest should tell that to the victims of the 1988 Aloha Airlines disaster. There, metal fatigue on an aging Boeing 737 caused 18 feet of fuselage to be ripped off the plane causing grievous injuries and loss of life."

"Quiet Rockland asks and encourages those Southwest employees tired of subscribing to their company's tombstone culture, to leave their sinking airship now to find other and better employ at a responsible airline that actually acknowledges the dignity of the individual human traveler. We further ask every American consumer to now act in solidarity - cancel all flights and other business with Southwest - boycott the airline which we today re-name "Air Kevorkian" - and just say "No" to Southwest, to FAA, and to the greed of the aeromercantile complex that continually and habitually puts profits over people's lives. And, as to Southwest stockholders? Vote your conscience".

Gee, do you think this group is a little pissed?:laugh:

imp: ​

 

[Captzaahlie]

Said John J. Tormey III, Esq., attorney and Quiet Rockland co-founder: "The persons that should be flying Southwest at this point, should be only those referred by Doctor Kevorkian. Although the depraved Southwest spin-machine audaciously 'assures' us Southwest's four (4) cracked-fuselage aircraft were "never a safety problem", Southwest should tell that to the victims of the 1988 Aloha Airlines disaster. There, metal fatigue on an aging Boeing 737 caused 18 feet of fuselage to be ripped off the plane causing grievous injuries and loss of life."

"Quiet Rockland asks and encourages those Southwest employees tired of subscribing to their company's tombstone culture, to leave their sinking airship now to find other and better employ at a responsible airline that actually acknowledges the dignity of the individual human traveler. We further ask every American consumer to now act in solidarity - cancel all flights and other business with Southwest - boycott the airline which we today re-name "Air Kevorkian" - and just say "No" to Southwest, to FAA, and to the greed of the aeromercantile complex that continually and habitually puts profits over people's lives. And, as to Southwest stockholders? Vote your conscience".

Gee, do you think this group is a little pissed?:laugh:

imp: ​

I'll still update my online application at SWA on a very regular basis despite what an "attorney" thinks about the company.
Money talks and SWA makes it......

 

[Captzaahlie]

Lets be clear, this is why SWA was supposed to be making these inspections.

Yes but I like convertibles :

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/captzly/DSC04439.jpg

my airport car probably wont pass inspection next time.....:laugh:

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/captzly/DSC04438.jpg



(I'm only joking around here fella's don't get your panties in a knot!)

 

[FlyingSig]

Just saying that stuff happens at our companies that isn't great, but why is everyone here so quick to try to shoot the other airline off their saddle?

Because many of the Southwest recent incidents/accidents have been attibutable to a culture of a get'r'done attitude that flies in the face of safety. You talked about Delta's L-1011 and windshear.... that accident caused an entire industry to change and it wasn't brushed aside which IMHO seems to happen within hours of anything SWA related (good on your media people, but what's that doing for aviation safety?)

What kind of culture? Here's just a few snipets from the NTSB database:

Contributing to the accident were Southwest Airline's 1) failure to provide its pilots with clear and consistent guidance and training regarding company policies and procedures related to arrival landing distance calculations; 2) programming and design of its onboard performance computer, which did not present inherent assumptions in the program critical to pilot decision making; 3) plan to implement new autobrake procedures without a familiarization period; and 4) failure to include a margin of safety in the arrival assessment to account for operational uncertainties. Also contributing to the accident was the pilots' failure to divert to another airport given reports that included poor braking action and a tailwind component greater than 5 knots.

The pushback tow driver not maintaining visual lookout for the wing walker's visual signal, and the driver not maintaining clearance from the vehicle during the pushback for taxi. Factors to the accident were the standing vehicle behind the airplane, the inadequate group/crew coordination for the pushback, and the lack of guidance in the company's manuals to stop the tow when visual lookout is not maintained.

Contributing to the accident was the flight crew's decision to continue the approach and to land with a thunderstorm (with associated gusty and variable winds) reported at the airport and the heavy rain, which reduced the flight crew's visibility on short final.

the pilot's misjudgment of distance, which resulted in a runway overrun

the flight crew's excessive airspeed and flightpath angle during the approach and landing and its failure to abort the approach when stabilized approach criteria were not met

the captain's improper rejected takeoff, in that the takeoff was rejected after V1, and the flight attendants' improper use of the evacuation procedure, in that an evacuation was independently initiated without the captain's approval, and without assessing the condition and location of the fire. Factors related to the accident were: bird ingestion in the left engine near lift-off speed during the takeoff roll, and company's inadequate Crew Resource Management (CRM) training for flight attendants.

Now I'm sure you're going to think I'm somehow wronging you personally but I'm not. All I'm saying is that it seems like a good percentage of SWA issues are related to the corporate culture. Delta went through a bunch of corporate safety related issues in the mid 90's and things actually changed. Here's to hoping the same thing happens at SWA.....

 

[JimNtexas]

Leaving whose airline sucks the most out of it for a minute, what really happened?

Was there an AD that was ignored by mistake? Or was this inspection something that was recommended but not required?

I just can't believe that someone at any major airline made a conscious decision to ignore a required inspection.

Was there a rogue employee pencil whipping the inspections?

 

[PositiveRate]

I believe that, on the outside, the focus appears to be not entirely focused on safety. It will be interesting to see if that apparent culture is a contributing factor in these missed inspections.

Here's a major gripe of mine regarding KOAK - maybe a Southwest guy can explain this.

Rwy 29 is 10,000' with water at or near both ends of the runway. Each of the past 4 times I've been in OAK, various Southwest aircraft request intersection "U" for departure in order to get out ahead of other aircraft. Why would you voluntarily give away 3000' of good runway to save a minute or two.

Using intersection "U" -

Is it safe? Probably

Is it legal? Probably

If you had a high speed abort and went off the end, where do you think the scrutiny or the media and the feds would fall - especially considering you voluntarily shortened the pavement by 30% to save time???