Fatigue cracking on Southwest planes is a problem

Posted By on April 3, 2011

IMAG1624Citizen journalism was alive and well (‘alive’ being the appropriate word) this weekend as an emergency landing was made by a Southwest jet in Yuma Arizona. Shawna MalviniRedden, a blogger at The Bluest Muse, ‘tweeted’ comments and photos.

Share photos on twitter with Twitpic

Shortly after take off the Boeing 737 had a hole 5 foot long and 1 foot wide open in the top of the fuselage. The plane was at 36,000 feet and depressurized injuring one of the flight attendants. Pilots quickly descended to 11,000 feet and made a safe and control emergency landing. After the harrowing event, Southwest grounded some 300 flights and began inspections on their planes. From today’s CNN article, the findings were not all that comforting.

(CNN) — Investigators found "widespread cracking" on the skin of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 that made an emergency landing in Arizona after a hole opened on top of the aircraft during flight Friday, a National Transportation Safety Board member said Sunday.

See CNN article

Comments

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog