kettle1

I just heard this from a WN supervisor. Does any one know why? And for how long?

dlaue

Whoa! Might as well shut down the whole airline.

dblue

https://twitter.com/jonostrower/stat...16113441505280

WSJ EXCLUSIVE: Missed Rudder Inspections Prompt Southwest To Pull 128 737-700s Out Of Service -Sources (story soon WSJ.com)

AC681

Rumors of a missed Rudder maintenance inspection

steved5480

Assuming the numbers hold in the rest of the story, 128 of their -700s is a long ways from the entire fleet of 432 -700s. I certainly hope they pay their dispatchers premium pay for dealing with this mess.

Fleet List

dlaue

Flying tomorrow on a 700. Wish me luck.

WN needs to get its maintenance s### together. Lord knows, they have the
money to do it right.

Jwebber57

Flying on a few -700's every week next month

dlaue

So far, the status shows ON TIME for all the flights tomorrow.

dlaue

Southwest Airlines confirmed Tuesday evening that it grounded 128 of its Boeing 737-700 aircraft that day after it discovered that the airplanes had not received required inspections.

Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said the carrier has canceled about 90 flights as a result.

Here’s her complete statement:

Earlier today, we discovered an overdue maintenance check required to be performed on the standby hydraulic system, which serves as a back-up to the primary hydraulic systems.

Southwest inadvertently omitted the lowest of three intervals for the maintenance check, it was a conservative interval that was established within Southwest’s FAA-approved maintenance program. As a result of this discovery, 128 -700 aircraft were identified as having overflown the required check.

Once identified, we immediately grounded the affected aircraft, initiated maintenance checks, disclosed the matter to the FAA, and developed an action plan to complete all overdue checks. Approximately 90 cancellations have occurred.

This was not an Airworthiness Directive. Of course, the Safety of our Employees and Customers remains our highest priority and we are working to resolve this matter swiftly.

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2...irplanes.html/

steved5480

..."Of Course"...

bgriz18

Wow 128 planes... How do you screw up the timing of these maintenance checks for that many planes...

dlaue

I am getting tired of Southwest's mechanical risks.

I wish another airline really served my routes.

dlaue

And how does it only impact 90 flights??

nsx

Unless this is a particularly difficult inspection, Southwest could look at most (all?) of the 128 aircraft before tomorrow's flights.

airplanegod

That's what I was thinking, unless the plane is RON at an outstation with no mechanics they should be able to complete most of these overnight.