Southwest plane with torn fuselage averaged 7 flights a day over 15 years, FAA says

The Southwest Airlines jet forced to land last week after a gash opened in its fuselage had made an average of seven flights a day over its 15 years of service -- a demanding schedule for any jetliner.

Federal Aviation Administration officials disclosed Tuesday that the Boeing 737-300 had flown 48,740 hours over its lifetime and gone through 39,781 flight cycles -- takeoffs and landings that tend to place the most stress on a plane's fuselage along with changes in cabin pressures.

Aviation experts had initially speculated that the wear and tear Southwest planes typically  endure -- making an average of six flights per day -- contributed to the incident. Southwest is the leading low-cost carrier in an industry that is highly competitive.

Flight 812, bound from Phoenix to Sacramento, had 118 passengers aboard when it made a safe emergency landing in Yuma, Ariz., Friday. There were no serious injuries.

After the incident, Southwest cancelled about 630 flights and inspected its 78 Boeing 737s, finding five others with fuselage cracks. The airline resumed normal flight operations Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, the FAA ordered all airlines to conduct detailed inspections within five days of older model Boeing 737-300s, 400s and 500s that have logged more than 35,000 flight cycles. The directive also requires airlines to check heavily-used 737s before they reach 30,000 cycles and orders that the older planes, which are mostly owned by Southwest, be re-inspected every 500 cycles.

Paul Richter, chief project engineer for 737s at Boeing, said during a media briefing that the fatigue cracks suspected in the Southwest rupture occurred sooner than Boeing expected in the life of the plane. The company also issued a service order instructing airlines to check their planes.

FAA officials estimate that about 175 planes will be affected worldwide, including 80 in the United States. Domestic airlines must comply with the directive, whereas foreign carriers often honor the orders voluntarily.

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PHOTOS: Hole opens up during Southwest flight

-- Dan Weikel

Photo: A Southwest Airlines passenger jet prepares to land at Chicago Midway Airport on April 5. Credit: Scott Olson / Getty Images

Graphic: Breakdown of Southwest's fleet, which as of Dec. 31 comprised 538 Boeing aircraft. Credit: Scott Wilson / Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-southwest-impact-c.eps-20110405,0,1714327.graphic

Comments

[boil]

wheres the story on the fact that southwest and other airlines, are doing their tear-down maintenance in china and india. thats right, they bring the plane there to do work to find cracks on the fuselage.

[2bits]

Maybe this is what they call 'hitting for the cycle' for planes? Obviously the cycle time must be less than 30,000 to be safe. Any plane with more than 30,000 cycles should be taken out of service to undergo an exhaustive check's to see if air worthy. Airlines are not doing enough to maintain their planes!

[Sean]

Isn't 20,000-25,000 flight cycles considered to be the outer limits for an aircraft's life?

I seem to recall from the 80s that the older airlines were certain that SWA would collapse from the expense of replacing their fleets much more often. Guess SWA's business model was to push the envelope as far as they could and now the envelope is shredding.

The airline business is a brutal one to be in. There are virtually no barriers to entry. It's the most heavily subsidized in the US. All levels of govt (fed, state, and local - even the tea baggers) love to subsidize the industry. It's impossible for anyone to make an honest buck without a combo of handouts (direct and disguised) and extreme cost cutting.

[J. Fedor]

Isn't it odd that cracks were found in five other aircraft fuselages and then the airline resumed normal flight operations? What's missing is why would you resume normal operations with aircraft that had fatigue cracks? I would think that some statement about these cracks are small enough to not be concern or something to connect the logic of finding cracks with resuming operations is safe?

[fred]

check out the photo at drshow.org. seems to show a fuselage crack below the southwest plane's windows also.