Here's why I never fly on discount low cost air carriers.........

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,337191,00.html

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines grounded 41 planes overnight in the wake of its recent admission that it had missed required inspections of some planes for structural cracks.

The move announced Wednesday comes as Southwest faces a $10.2 million civil penalty for continuing to fly nearly 50 planes after the airline told regulators that it had missed required inspections of the planes.

 

Interesting, Southwest actually has one of the best saftey records in the biz. Can't skimp on the maintainence though.




Darrell.

 

This is interesting. I know from certain people that Southwest always buys good parts for their planes (government employee who oversaw their orders), they don't just get the cheapest parts available. I believe this has a lot to do with their great safety record. Can't imagine why they skipped these tests, musta been some kinda oversight by a new employee or something. I'm sure they'll get it worked out just fine.

If I fly, I always fly Southwest.

 

They did it to save costs..........

Fly who you want, but don't expect to see me sitting next to you.

 

Low Cost carriers aren't the only ones who are able to do this they aren't even more likely to ignore maintenance. Air Canada has a fairly shaky record with this sort of thing.

 

There would only be one reason to bypass repairs. Do you really think one person can scrap the maintenance plans for 50 planes? A new employee at that?

There's too much wrong with your post for you to be serious.

 

That's why my dad takes his mechanics on board during "test flights". He says the mechanics performed their duties far better now than before cause they (machanics) were too scared that if the plane wasn't up to par, that they too will suffer the consequences!

 

Southwest is one of the only airlines that has its act together. Things like this happen in every company.

I wouldn't expect to see a lot of these ferrarichat elitists flying on Southwest anyway.

 

Is southwest considered low cost? I would think spirit to be more of a low cost airline, in mi we have some airway 3000 or something like that


I saw an ad for this today:

http://www.a380.singaporeair.com/content/interior/index.html

Not sure what it ost but I would think its not budget friendly.

 

I have no idea why they skipped the tests. Obviously if I did we'd all know. It was just speculation. The rest of my post was a fact though. They do order the better parts for their planes, not just purchasing what is cheap like most commercial airlines. That is a fact.

 

What? I understand that they made a mistake but the whole discount carrier comment was ignorant of the facts. Southwest is the pinnacle of air carriers in America, I would love to fly with them.

 

it takes alot of work, and big balls to " not comply " with an inspection. the logbooks are the end all be all the FAA looks at. on top of that, there are the IA's that have to sign off the aircraft as Airworthy and release it for flight. "skipping" a Recurring Mandatory inspection like this could carry serious Federal and Civil charges.

no way anybody i know with an A&P / IA in the business would risk so many lives to save a few dollars. "if" this was actually intentional, it had to come the the top Management, and involve some serious threats to those who sign off on the aircraft.

 

Think whatever you want, but there's a reason the FAA just fined them $10,000,000 and now there's 40 planes sitting idle on the ground being inspected. And it's not because the work was already done. And the FAA obviously did not approve of it, like Southworst claimed in their press release after the story broke. Liars. They got caught and have the spin machine going.


You can't pay me to fly Southwest.

 

So a new employee is to blame? Are you a stock holder?

 

What? No, I said it was speculation. Can't you read? NO, I don't own any stock or have any connection to Southwest whatsoever.

 

You speculate that a new employee caused this. That's what you've come up with? Saving money doesn't spring to mind?

 

You are kicking a dead horse my friend.

 

Your outrageous posts spurred amazement.

 

As a former Aircraft Inspector at an airline across the field ( Love Field ) I can assure you that any ADs that were issued to their maintenance department were complied with.
This does sound like a paperwork SNAFU. I may be wrong but that is almost unthinkable.
The expression in the airline industry is that when the paperwork equals the weight of the airplane it is allowed to fly.
I do not consider SWA to be a discount carrier as far as maintenance is concerned.
You want real discount carriers ? Oh the stories.

 

I have several friends in maintenance at SWA.
Going to check into this.

 

I hope lightguy sheds some light on this subject...










oh, lighten up....

 

I personally know and worked with as an inspector 2 SWA employees that were put on administrative leave because of this and also the FAA inspector who brought this to light.
Its a rats nest but in the end it is indeed a paperwork issue by the manufacturer and in the inspection directions which were approved by the FAA.
The Airwothiness Directive did not include a certain section of the aircraft which is where the failures were eventually found.
SWA reported the paperwork snafu previously to the FAA through self disclosure rules.
I fully expect the fine and penalties to be rescinded.
BTW; This particular paperwork problem applies to ALL of these manufactured aircraft at ALL airlines. It is not unique to SWA.
Relax. The area in question does not effect the airworthiness of the aircraft.

 

What was the defect?

 

This is actually being investigated now that congress has started investigating. I guess we will see how widespread it is. I don't intend to relax until people with integrity and attention to detail follow through on the requirements.

 

Good to hear!