Friends - Many of you are writing to us concerned about today's news reports regarding the safety and inspections of Southwest Airlines' aircraft.
Let me assure you, first and foremost, that no one is more passionate about the safety of our Customers and Employees than we are, and it is important for you all to know that the situation being reported in the media was never and is not now a safety of flight issue.
The FAA has issued what is called a "letter of penalty" to Southwest Airlines regarding one of many routine, redundant, and overlapping inspections of our fleet. The specific inspection in question involves an extremely small area in one of many overlapping inspections designed to detect early signs of skin cracking on our aircraft.
In March 2007, Southwest Airlines discovered a missed inspection area, disclosed the information to the FAA, and promptly reinspected all of our potentially affected aircraft.
The FAA approved our actions at that time and considered the matter closed as of April 2007.
The Boeing Company, which manufactures all of our aircraft, also supported our aggressive compliance plan, and has issued a statement confirming that we acted responsibly and, more importantly, that the safety of our fleet was not compromised.
The FAA has concerns about the inspection process, which we are willing and eager to work with them to resolve. Receipt of the FAA's letter of penalty gives us the opportunity to present both our case and the facts, which we feel will support our actions taken back in March 2007.
We assure you that this issue never compromised the safety of our fleet. Southwest has an excellent maintenance program, with more Boeing 737 aircraft experience than any carrier in the world. Safety is, has always been, and will always will be our number one priority.
Comments
The facts are not all known, and the fact is the planes were all safe. The reason airplanes crack are they are made out of aluminum and they "flex" with each pressure cycle. Boeing designed the skins to be thicker in certain areas and thinner in other areas to save weight in the construction (which allows you to carry more stuff on the plane). This was a good idea and is the norm in the industry. As aircraft ages the thinner areas weaken and start to crack. Boeing designed the aircraft with doublers, tearstraps, and "Bearstraps" to prevent the kind of catastrophic failure seen on the "Aloha" aircraft, which was a much older Boeing design than the Classic.
These designed thicker areas are made to prevent a failure as seen in the "Aloha" incident and work very well. The inspection programs are built to catch the cracks, the AD's are more specific in detail and frequency.
The first post in this blog asks you to read the FAA letter to SWA, I highly recommend you read it, and try to understand it. As it refers to numerous "If/Then" scenarios of whether or not a certain inspection/AD/cancels out another or is applicable at another time. Having first hand experience trying to make sense out of some of these documents, I feel the real problem is the confusing nature in which the FAA and the Manufacturer's approve and send these documents(AD's & SB's) to the airlines.
Southwest Airlines is the most successful, safe, and best maintained airline in the world. Their safety record, customer complaints record, and DOT ratings reflect this. Please wait for the facts to come out as there has been a terrible injustice against SWA and to the trust of those customers who entrust SWA with their lives.
Newsflash - MARTIANS ARE SPOTTED ON MARS!
I think there are some people on this blog that actually BELIEVE those headlines! The media is a very smart engine and they can help you believe whatever they want you to.
Let's stick to the facts people. I own stock in this airline and I want that stock to go UP not down.
Tamra DAL Mx |: You are an SWA employee. You have a vested interest in lying to the public. You have SWA(LUV) stock. You want the stock to go up, but it went down today like most stocks.
On March 19, the airline said it had definitely flown airplanes that had skipped required inspections. But then the airline did something worse, according to the F.A.A.
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Paula, please tell us how you know the inspections were done? Were you there and watched them all? No you weren't. You're job was to write that little blog entry, and press release. You are PAID by the company to write what they TELL you to write. You are a liar and as much as a shame on the human race as Bush.
To David and everyone else whose thought process is flawed regarding this
issue:
I ask you: What qualifications do you have in assessing the situation regarding the safety of Southwest Airlines operations? Can you explain
the sucess this airline has enjoyed for 37 years and counting? When you can answer this, then get back with me. I challenge you to defend your logic(?)
As a Flight Attendant for Southwest Airlines, I would like to add my two peanuts worth, so to speak. I have been with the Company for fourteen and a half years, and I have never hesitated to step aboard one of our flights, either as a working crew member or as passenger hitching a ride from here to there. As Flight Attendants, we are trained to ensure a SAFE and comfortable flight for our Customers with SAFETY being our number one priority. We are encouraged to raise concerns if something appears out of the ordinary, even if it seems to be Ã
It would seem that the FAA and Congress have more important things to do than going on the attack against one of the finest and more profitable airlines in the industry! The local FAA inspectors passed the planes in question and the matter should have been dropped. It appears that the individual that made the complaint had no basis other than attempting to cause trouble,If the issue was so serious why not identify yourself by name so that a proper response can be made directly to the individual.Beth Harbin,keep up the good work,and respond directly to these fools!
Paperwork!!!! SWA, get your paperwork in order, do all your deferred maintenance, pay your FAA fine and get all of your planes fixed and inspected now!
Your low bid, third-party maintenance contractors are the problem!!! Clean house now and mea culpas out the wazzo in the press before the flying public moves back to, god forbid, USAir!
Geeeeezzzz SWA, are you all asleep over there? This isn't rocket science, just good management.
Promote Hoot Gibson to CEO before someone gets hurt.
Just because something is printed in a newspaper does not make it true. An airline that cuts corners on safety in order to profit does not maintain a spotless safety record for 37 years. It just doesn't happen! Furthermore, plenty of Southwest employees fly on these planes, many of them "commute" to their jobs via a Soutwest flight. Do you really think they would skimp on safety when they and their families are flying on this airline, often several times per week? I hope Soutwest vigorously defends itself against these allegations and not let the media do the usual bit: slandering someone while the story is hot and then when it all turns out to be a big nothing you never hear about it. The media has just moved on to the next big "story". I KNOW Southwest has never skimped on safety.
As usual, the media, in their infinite wisdom, has the tendency to blow things out of porportion under the guise of "unbiased" reporting!!!!!! Man, talk about cerebral impotence. To all of you so-called experts who "have the facts", did you do your homework? In case you didn't notice, Southwest Airlines has an impeccable safety record. The best you can come up with is what amounts to something you got from watching TMZ!!!!! People like yourselves are the reason for sex (I'm not talking about using padded headboards and fluffy handcuffs either)!!!!!!!! The media did the same thing with the B-52 incident involving the flight with nuclear weapons from North Dakota to Louisiana. They didn't get their facts straight. As a result, 70 people faced sanctions ranging from losing a promotion to being relieved of command. A few of them, I knew personally. Bottom line, people. Before you begin expounding about things which you have have no clue about, pause and think.
Get ALL the facts first. If you dare to challenge this logic with the temporal audacity that some of you have displayed in your comments, then my statement regarding cerebral impotence and safe sex stands!!!!