Southwest Airlines flew "unsafe" planes, says U.S. Congress

[Flying Scotsman]

According to an article by CNN, the FAA knowingly allowed Southwest to fly up to 117 Boeing 737s which were beyond their safety inspection limits for the rudder control systems and checks for cracks in the fuselage - known causes of previous accidents in this type of aircraft.

The article can be found here:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/06/southwest.planes/index.html

Combined with the economic downturn in the U.S. and the decrease in consumer spending, this could likely hit Southwest hard. There's nothing more difficult to shake than a poor reputation for safety.

[sdbpilot]

They sent out an email before I could even read the report. So Southwest is clearly trying to play it off like no big deal, which it could be.

[Nick GEG]

SWA is fast on this one.....One station here in Spokane reported the cracks, then the next report was on SWA's new $29.00 flights to Seattle.........

[penguin44]

They sent out an email before I could even read the report. So Southwest is clearly trying to play it off like no big deal, which it could be.

They may be trying to play this down, but to say it may be no big deal is a horrible thing to say. Safety is Safety. There is no excuse to ignore anything safety related on aircraft. Rudder and cracks? Yeah I would have grounded those planes and fixed them.  I know money is an issue with no planes in the air, but, if you slam a plane into the ground because you ignored safety, you won't be flying much longer.

[Jason]

They sent out an email before I could even read the report. So Southwest is clearly trying to play it off like no big deal, which it could be.

They may be trying to play this down, but to say it may be no big deal is a horrible thing to say. Safety is Safety. There is no excuse to ignore anything safety related on aircraft. Rudder and cracks? Yeah I would have grounded those planes and fixed them.  I know money is an issue with no planes in the air, but, if you slam a plane into the ground because you ignored safety, you won't be flying much longer.

The problem with taking these articles at face value is that FAA reports are often erroneous and far from the truth, so an element of trustworthiness (or lack thereof) is introduced to the many existing variables.  Compounded with the media and their frequent, false assumptions about aviation related issues and no one can be sure of the facts at all.  Personally, I'm waiting for further reports to surface, from all sources involved (Southwest, the FAA, and perhaps the NTSB).

If it somehow turns out the issue never compromised safety of flight and was just a paperwork oversight, the FAA is going to have a fun time explaining how they pulled AMI's Part 135 operating certificate, yet only fined Southwest $10.2 million dollars.