You’re now free to get sucked out of the cabin…
If you were out enjoying the weekend, you might have missed the fact that a Southwest Airlines flight leaving Phoenix experienced a large tear in a riveted lap joint, causing the cabin to lose pressure and forcing the pilots to abort the flight plan and land at a military airfield in Yuma.
And you thought the reason Southwest’s fares were so cheap and that friends were always flying for free was due to the good nature of the company. Nah, it’s because you’re rolling in a jet that is equivalent to that 1984 Ford Escort you used to drive in high school. It’ll probably get you there–it’ll probably get you there safely… …but…
Many of the Boeing 737-300 jets have been returned to commercial service after additional mechanical inspections, and after a weekend of hundreds of cancelled flights, only 70 have been cancelled today. However, beyond the jets that have resumed service, the National Transportation and Safety Board has found additional cracks on three of Southwest’s older 737s, the probable cause for April 1 mid-air incident.
The board has stated that inspections will continue through Tuesday in an attempt to find any other potential problems with the Southwest aircrafts. In a response to the incident, Boeing has suggested that all airlines flying the 737-300 should inspect the lap joints that run the length of the fuselage. Such inspections are not currently mandatory, yet it is suspected that the FAA will soon make them so.
You know, I think I’m gonna look into Virgin America the next time I need to catch some air.
