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The US Federal Aviation Administration has said it will order inspections of some 175 older Boeing 737s worldwide after a fuselage rupture forced a Southwest Airlines flight into an emergency landing.
“The FAA will issue an emergency directive tomorrow that will require operators of specific early Boeing 737 models to conduct initial and repetitive electromagnetic inspections for fatigue damage,” the aviation watchdog said in a statement.
The action initially will apply to a total of about 175 aircraft worldwide, 80 of which are registered in the US. Most of those are operated by Southwest Airlines, it added.
“Safety is our number-one priority,” said the Transportation Secretary, Mr Ray LaHood, in the statement.
“Last Friday’s incident was very serious and could result in additional action depending on the outcome of the investigation.”
None of the 123 people on Southwest’s Flight 812 was seriously hurt when a hole tore open the fuselage on the 737-300 aircraft flying from Phoenix, Arizona, to Sacramento, California.
The hole caused a sudden loss of cabin pressure, triggering a harrowing journey that saw passengers grasp for oxygen masks as the pilot brought the plane into a rapid descent. The plane landed without incident at an Arizona military base with a five-foot by one-foot gash in its roof.
Southwest pulled 79 Boeing 737-300s out of service, cancelling hundreds of flights, to inspect them for “skin fatigue’’.
The FAA directive will require inspections using electromagnetic, technology in specific areas of the aircraft fuselage on certain Boeing 737 aircraft in the -300, -400 and -500 series that have accumulated more than 30,000 flight cycles.
The FAA administrator, Mr Randy Babbitt, said the inspections were designed to detect cracking that cannot be spotted with visual inspection. It will then require repetitive inspections at regular intervals.
“The FAA has comprehensive programmes in place to protect commercial aircraft from structural damage as they age,” he said.
Southwest runs an all -737 fleet of 548 Boeing aircraft, with an average age of 11.2 years. It includes about 170 Boeing 737-300s, the oldest in the fleet, produced from 1984 to 1999.
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