In Brief: FAA Gives Southwest Permission to Fly 128 Grounded 737s Overdue for Inspection
Jesse Tabit February 25, 2015
Although more than 100 Southwest Airlines aircraft were grounded on Tuesday after officials found them to be past due for required maintenance inspections, the FAA has given the airline permission to continue operating them. The 128 Boeing 737-700s were grounded because the carrier allegedly failed to execute the proper checkups, specifically on the aircraft rudder backup systems.
Southwest reported that Tuesday evening’s grounding led to the cancellation of approximately 80 flights. Upon evaluating the risks, the FAA approved a plan allowing the airline to continue operating the 128 aircraft. The approved plan specifies that Southwest has five days to finish the appropriate inspections.
For additional information on this story, visit The Dallas Morning News.
To discuss this story, visit this FlyerTalk forum.
You’re Reading
The Southwest issue is a periodic checkup that is overdue but past history would demonstrate the low probability of risk. AA's was a re-wiring that was done wrong on some aircraft and was deemed essential to be done correctly. Two different scenarios, two different outcomes, - no obvious bias.
Interesting. If I recall correctly, the FAA refused to let AA fly ANY MD80s until they were all inspected. So they let them fly while "awaiting inspection?" If this isn't preferential treatment I don't know what is