Southwest Grounds 128 Planes Nationwide Over Missed Inspections, 6 Local Flights Affected

CBSLA.com) ^

[BenLurkin]

Southwest Airlines Wednesday grounded 20 percent of its fleet, including the cancellation of six flights at Southland airports, after dozens of planes missed inspections.

The airline made the announcement to ground 128 of its 700 planes — or a fifth of its fleet — late Tuesday night.

According to a Southwest spokesperson, the airline discovered the missed inspections and immediately notified federal safety regulators to begin checking planes.

“Once identified, Southwest immediately and voluntarily removed the affected aircraft from service,” the Dallas-based airline said in a statement.

[George from New England]

Are they ‘missed’ inspections or has our lovely govt upp’ed the bar on inspection schedules ???!

[SeaHawkFan]

Someone is getting fired.

[Jack Hydrazine]

I have a great idea. Let SW run their planes into the ground without inspections. Then the Feds will come in and shut them down while those affected by the crashes will sue them into obscurity.

[bus man]

I have a great idea. Let SW run their planes into the ground without inspections. Then the Feds will come in and shut them down while those affected by the crashes will sue them into obscurity.

I take it you don't like Southwest? Well, that's your prerogative. But to me, this just further confirms my high opinion of them. Anyone can claim that safety is their highest priority. But this company put their money where their mouth is. Upon discovering merely that they had missed some inspections (NOT that there was necessarily any immediate risk), they voluntarily removed 20 percent of their operating capacity to rectify the issue.

Bravo, Southwest.

[GeronL]

How do you miss that many inspections? Aren’t these things part of the routine by now?

[Jack Hydrazine]

Remember what happened to Alaska Airlines flight 261 on 31JAN2000 with the failed jackscrew?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Airlines_Flight_261

It was due to inadequate lubrication and end play checks of the jackscrew that only takes an hour to do. The airline also progessively increased the time between those lube and checks.

SW, like any other airline, knows what needs to be done and when for aircraft maintenance. You think some just “forgot”? I don’t think so. They were slacking off trying to save money for the airline.

The inspectors need to clamp down a little harder on SW to ensure nobody “forgets” what needs to done.