Southwest Airlines grounds 40+ planes...

[mgchristy]

http://travel.msn.com/Guides/article.as ... &GT1=41000

I wouldn't want to be one of the unlucky maintenance employees caught in this crossfire...

[Chris Trott]

What really aggrivates me on this issue was that that Southwest "blew the whistle" on itself, told the FAA, contacted Boeing, followed what they were told to do by the manufacturer (fly the planes until they get inspected) and then the FAA comes back 4 months later and says they want to fine the company $10 million for being honest. Even worse are the so-called "whistle blowers" that are complaining that the FAA is in too cozy with the airlines and that they weren't allowed to do inspections on aircraft involved in the case, yet as the facts come out, they look more and more like disgruntled employees that are pissed they didn't get to catch Southwest in the act since Southwest called themselves for messing up.

Then, they do an internal investigation and find 40 more airplanes with "questionable" paperwork and pull them for checks as well and it becomes a "firestorm" instead of being what it should be - applause from the peanut gallery (i.e. the public) for doing the right and responsible thing without having to have the FAA tell them to.

Oh well... once again, it's the "big bad corporation's" fault even when they do follow the rules after making a mistake... :@

[airboatr]

I have to disagree
the honest thing would have been too line up those aircraft on schedule for inspection........... on schedule.

owning up to a wrong isn't really the same. (My opinion based on the teaching I recieved growing up)

there sure isn't any excuse to miss the inspection, I'm sure Southwest prides themselves on good record keeping
and of coarse Boeing has enlightened them in reguards to the importance of scheduled inspections.
so what was the cause or excuse? .....bet it had to do with money, thankfully no one died before the discrepancy was found

ATB
Joe

[Chris Trott]

No, the cause was managers not providing sufficient oversight and paperwork not being properly completed.

Also, as has been said multiple times in the reports, when Southwest found out about the problem, the aircraft they knew about were scheduled for inspections and were inspected according to Boeing & the FAA's reccomendation. It was Boeing who cleared Southwest to continue operating the aircraft until the inspections were completed and the FAA didn't object to that clearance. After that, Southwest intiated an internal investigation to audit the inspection program and the maintenance program in general. As they progressed, they found additional aircraft that had not been inspected and at that time grounded those airplanes (since now the FAA's complained about them not grounding the ones involved with the original issue) and ferried them to maintenance bases if they weren't already there. In addition, they then suspended several managers and supervisors who were in the chain of failure. This all happened without any directive or finding of fault by the FAA. It was done because Southwest has an excellent maintenance program and they are proactive in fixing any issues that come up.

[airboatr]

NO CHRIS
honesty dosen't offer excuses either

but at least the most for the mostest therory played out

the FAA gave them one of the largest fines ever