Swa maintenance issues?

[contrail67]

Just saw an ad for $29 fares on SWA....how much lower will they have to go?

 

[MALSR]

Now that SWA has to do maintenance like the rest of us, does that mean they're going to raise their $29 fares from GEG to SEA???

 

[bravodude]

It was both. If my company did this, then I wouldn't be defending them. That's the difference.

Dont you work for valujet oh my bad airtran. By the way your company did to it they just changed their name.

 

[Tejas-Jet]

3 days max....this is all gone...betcha...

 

[jke406]

Dont you work for valujet oh my bad airtran. By the way your company did to it they just changed their name.

Roger that...

"Critter xx"

 

[Reebo]

I understand the "older airplane inspections" were mandated after the infamous Alaska Airlines accident when part of the cabin blew off and sucked out a flight attendant...

It was Aloha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243

 

[jke406]

It was Aloha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243

oh yeah.

Alaska had the faulty jack screw in the stab trim that caused their fatal crash.

so sorry.

 

[GuppyWN]

The whistle-blowers say FAA managers knew about the lapse in safety at Southwest, but decided to allow the airline to conduct the safety checks on a slower schedule because taking "aircraft out of service would have disrupted Southwest Airlines' flight schedule."

Isn't the point of oversight to find errors and improve future performace? The feds ALLOWED us to comply with the inspections on an amended timeline. Now we're being targeted for following the FAA guidelines?

Let the hearings take place. If we were caught with our hand in the cookie jar then they ought to spank us. We would deserve it. We missed the deadlines plain and simple and will surely pay a fine for it but if we inadvertantly missed this inspection and enhanced safety by improving future performance then I say the system worked.

Gup

 

[jke406]

Isn't the point of oversight to find errors and improve future performace? The feds ALLOWED us to comply with the inspections on an amended timeline. Now we're being targeted for following the FAA guidelines?

Let the hearings take place. If we were caught with our hand in the cookie jar then they ought to spank us. We would deserve it. We missed the deadlines plain and simple and will surely pay a fine for it but if we inadvertantly missed this inspection and enhanced safety by improving future performance then I say the system worked.

Gup

"inadvertant," my ass.

you clowns "pressed to test" in an effort to save money and game the system.

it's a dirty, yellow trick. Southwest has officially surrendered the moral high ground.

 

[densoo]

The real problem is the FAA mandate to police AND promote aviation. If the NTSB had enforcement powers stuff like this wouldn't happen. I wonder if the FAA personnel who apparently knew about this were former SWA employees.

The FAA overlooks a lot of stuff for expediency. Another FAA allowance that will make no sense to the public when there is an incident: CAL uses only FOs on all flights requiring one (or more) IROs. As a cost saving measure, they received approval from the FAA to allow FOs to act as captain of a flight if they are type rated. All FOs are type-rated so there are no more captain IROs. Other airlines may also have this. Imagine a 777 over the pole having a serious problem (dual engine failure?) while the sole captain on the flight takes his sleep break. Two FOs up front are legal because the FAA allows any type-rated FO to fly as PIC. While this may make sense to pilots, it won't make sense to a CNN. The interview will go something like this:

CNN: "Where was the captain?"

CAL: "He was in the back sleeping."

CNN: "You mean to tell me there was no captain flying the plane?"

CAL: "Two first officers acting as PIC were flying the plane."

CNN: "What's a PIC?"

CAL: "Pilot in Command. A first officer that the FAA has allowed to be in sole control of the plane is a PIC."

CNN: "So the first officer was also a captain?"

CAL: "No."

CNN: "Can this first officer can fly as a sole captain on, say, another flight later in the month."

CAL: "No."

CNN: "Why not?"

CAL: "They require six weeks of training to fly as a captain."

CNN: "Did any of the three first officers on this flight have six weeks of training as a captain?"

CAL: "No."

CNN: "If they require six weeks of training to fly as a captain, then how can they be flying as a captain now, without the six weeks of training? Are they captains or not?"

CAL: "They're not."

CNN: "How can the FAA allow you to fly a 17-hour flight with only one captain, who has to in the back for several hours for rest? What if there is a terrorist incident and the flight deck gets locked down so he can't come back up?"

CAL: "Not our problem. Ask the FAA."