FAA orders emergency 737 inspections

Puget Sound Business Journal ^ | March 13, 2010 | Unattributed

[MamaDearest]

Emphasis mine.

[buccaneer81]

The Airbus haters will be here soon.

[USNBandit]

Failure of the lugs could cause vibration leading to structural failure of the horizontal fins and flaps in the tail,

As a pilot, I'm not going to fly any 737 where I find the flaps on the tail. They are supposed to be on the wings. :)

[sionnsar]

Boeing, and not Airbus?

Maybe I need to find a new job where I don't have to fly. Or travel -- driving and Amtrak aren't options when one lives on the Left Coast and meetings are East Coast and Europe.

[rlmorel]

LOL...saw that too...

[biff]

Should they have said:

A. Flippers
B. Trim tab
C. Itty bitty wingy thingy
D. None of the above

LOL

[xjcsa]

That does it - if it’s not Airbus, I’m not flying.

[USNBandit]

It’s gotta rhyme. If it’s not Antonov, I’m gettin off.

[USNBandit]

If it says Grumman on the pedals, it better say Martin Baker on the seat.

[Squawk 8888]

LOL I noticed that too. The next time a journo gets it right will be the first.

[TSgt]

...loss of aircraft control and structural integrity...

Man I hate flying on planes when that happens...

Getting on a Delta 737 next month, hopefully they'll have this fixed by then.

[drc43]

Absolutely fantastic aircraft. In production for over 50 years. Some issues bound to show up. They will take care of them.

Boeing is a fantastic company.

[drc43]

"The Airbus haters will be here soon."

No, I think EAD makes fantastic aircraft as well. Too much emotion here. Each company does need the other... on that I would agree.

[MamaDearest]

At least they caught this problem before it caused a crash (sighing here with relief). Boeing has been bleeding jobs as of late and this doesn't help. These are older articles, but typical of concerns re aviation maintenance:

FAA takes hit over airline maintenance

Snips: February 19, 2010 The Federal Aviation Administration's lax oversight of aircraft maintenance at American Airlines raises concerns about the agency's ability to regulate airline maintenance in gener The report notes that after the inspector general's office brought the maintenance allegations to FAA's attention, the agency brought in inspectors not normally assigned to oversee American to conduct a special review. The outside inspectors made recommendations in June 2008, but FAA's managers located at the airline's headquarters didn't receive a copy of the inspectors' final report until a year later, the inspector general said.

Union and Consumer group criticize airline maintenance outsourcing

Snip: Feb 18, 2008 "We need to call for a moratorium of all overseas maintenance. We need a moratorium and we need it now. This moratorium should not be lifted until every one of the 700 (overseas) repair facilities meet our standards," he added.

[Nik Naym]

“As a pilot, I’m not going to fly any 737 where I find the flaps on the tail. “

I am not a pilot, and even I read that and said to my self “what the heck????”

Reporters are some of the most technically ignorant people on the planet.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Alaska Air 737, Seattle to Honolulu and back three weeks ago.
Smooth sailing.

[Don Corleone]

Reporters are some of the most technically ignorant people on the planet.

Remove the 'technically'.

[CFIIIMEIATP737]

“Absolutely fantastic aircraft. In production for over 50 years.”

The 737 first went into production in the mid 1960’s.

[drc43]

I well remember when they first appeared. We called them Guppies. The engines were mounted almost on the wings. They had a 707 shortened fuselage, so lots of comfort. The dorsal fin was a bit unrefined, so they would wallow a bit on approach. You could see that.

But, it only got better with them. So many aircraft today copied that 737 idea.

Can you believe... 50 years for almost the same airframe?

[Senormechanico]

“Alaska Air 737, Seattle to Honolulu and back three weeks ago.
Smooth sailing.”

As a sailor, I disagree. It’s actually motorsailing.

A typical cruiser’s joke when flying back to the boat to start another tropical cruising year went like,

Question: “How was your flight?”
Answer: “It was awful, we had to motor the whole way!”