SWA grounding 41 aircraft

[samballs]

How long is it gonna take to get these aircraft back in the air?

 

[vixin]

Three hour inspection. They should be up by tomorrow morning.

 

[becket]

What about keeping their SCHEDULE???!!! Jeez...the FAA just doesn't get it! I don't know why SWA is always targeted by the Feds...Can't they just get a break...just once?!

 

[Crucianpilot]

What about keeping their SCHEDULE???!!! Jeez...the FAA just doesn't get it! I don't know why SWA is always targeted by the Feds...Can't they just get a break...just once?!

Since when?

 

[jke406]

Three hour inspection. They should be up by tomorrow morning.

Aren't you the same guy that said SWA did nothing wrong, and wouldn't be fined? oops.

 

[PCL_128]

Hey Tejas, what happened to all of this just disappearing "over the weekend?"

 

[MALSR]

Finally, SWA has to abide by the same rules as the rest of us. Its been a long time coming but I think the playing field has finally been leveled. Its sad that SWA allegedly "paid off" federal inspectors to try and get the upper hand in this industry at the expense of others that play by the rules.

 

[Andy]

This is going to put a lot of heat on the FAA. And they, in turn, will be forced to increase monitoring of Southwest. This is going to have some longer term impact to Southwest's schedules.
Southwest's got smart management. I wouldn't be surprised to see them increase turn times and aircraft spares. That will force Southwest to reduce block hours slightly.

 

[AA767AV8TOR]

Courtesy of NBC5i.com

DALLAS -- Southwest Airlines grounded 41 planes Tuesday night as it deals with fallout from using aircraft that had not been inspected for possible structural damage. Spokeswoman Christi Day said the move resulted in some flights being canceled Wednesday, but she doesn't have a precise figure. "We've been able to substitute and swap aircraft," Day said. Day said that it helps that it is Wednesday, a low travel day. The planes were being taken to the closest maintenance facility. The move comes as Southwest faces a $10.2 million civil penalty for continuing to fly nearly 50 planes after the airline admitted that it had missed required inspections of the planes for structural cracks. The Federal Aviation Administration, which announced the penalty last week, has also come under fire for failing to immediately ground the Southwest jets when it learned they had not been inspected for cracks in the fuselage. Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly said Tuesday he was concerned by findings from an internal investigation into the missed inspections. He announced that the Dallas-based company had placed three employees on paid leave while it investigated the situation. Acting FAA Administrator Robert A. Sturgell called the events "a twofold breakdown in the aviation system" -- first, Southwest's failure to properly inspect its planes; and the FAA's failure to ground the jets as "at least one FAA inspector looked the other way." The grounded planes represent about 8 percent of Southwest's fleet. The company said at the end of last year it had 520 Boeing 737 jets. Nearly 200 of them are older models, the Boeing 737-300, that were supposed to undergo extra inspections for cracks in the fuselage. The $10.2 million penalty is the largest the FAA has ever imposed on a carrier. Southwest has said it will appeal.


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[relief tube]

Three hour inspection. They should be up by tomorrow morning.

define "very optimistic"
scratch that, define "brutally naive"

 

[vixin]

Aren't you the same guy that said SWA did nothing wrong, and wouldn't be fined? oops.

I think you have me confused with someone else. Who is it you work for jke406?

 

[Charlie Brown]

define "very optimistic"
scratch that, define "brutally naive"

Actually, you are right. It is only a 90 minute inspection, not 3 hours.

 

[Charlie Brown]

Finally, SWA has to abide by the same rules as the rest of us. Its been a long time coming but I think the playing field has finally been leveled. Its sad that SWA allegedly "paid off" federal inspectors to try and get the upper hand in this industry at the expense of others that play by the rules.

Last time I checked SWA operates under FAR 121, and has since inception. So the "playing field" has always been level. Insinuating otherwise only makes you look ignorant.

The only "upper hand" SWA has is superior management compared to the rest of the industry. This is not my opinion as the numbers speak for themselves.

 

[Crucianpilot]

Actually, you are right. It is only a 90 minute inspection, not 3 hours.

Unless the inspection finds something wrong, then it will be a lot longer.

 

[Charlie Brown]

Unless the inspection finds something wrong, then it will be a lot longer.

I'll give you that...although I doubt all 41 jets are going to have issues. What do you think is a conservative guess? 10%?