http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/06/southwest.planes/index.html


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- -- Discount air carrier Southwest Airlines flew thousands of passengers on aircraft that federal inspectors said were "unsafe" as recently as last March, according to detailed congressional documents obtained by CNN.


Congressional documents show Southwest Airlines flew thousands of passengers on aircraft deemed "unsafe" by federal inspectors.



wow...and i love southwest

3/6/2008 1:42:10 PM

gotta get the rates down

3/6/2008 1:45:34 PM

I just flew Southwest yesterday

3/6/2008 1:50:37 PM

Commercial airplanes have so many fail safes and factors of safety too, it makes me wonder just how unsafe they were.

3/6/2008 1:53:13 PM

^ I was thinking the same thing at first and figured they were ruled unsafe for something little, but

Quote :

" The safety inspections ignored or delayed by the airline were mandated after two fatal crashes and one fatal incident, all involving Boeing's 737, the only type of airplane Southwest flies. In 1994, a U.S. Air Boeing 737 crashed in Pittsburgh killing 132. Three years earlier, a United Airlines Boeing 737 crashed in Colorado Springs, killing 25. Investigators blamed both crashes on problems in the planes' rudder control system, leading the FAA to demand regular checks of the 737's rudder system. Documents provided to CNN show 70 Southwest jets were allowed to fly past the deadline for the mandatory rudder inspections."

kind of makes me think otherwise.

3/6/2008 1:55:34 PM

factors of safety generally only count when a device is operating properly. i design all my equipment in the pharma. manuf. buildings with a factor of safety so that they cover the extreme while operating...but if part of the equipment fails you can generally throw that out the window.


The planes themselves are designed with lots of factors of safety, but if there is a failed electrical connection, screws loose, blades not operating correctly, not only can something happen that negates any safety, it can easily cause complete failure.

3/6/2008 1:58:54 PM

[Republican]The free market should determine how safe planes are, not the government[/Republican]

3/6/2008 3:19:48 PM

^

[Democrat]The government should now take control of all airline repairs and maintenance, subsidized by increased taxes on corporations and the rich. In addition, all those in the US making under 40,000 should now be able to buy discount airline tickets with a government grant. We'll also tack on an earmark to a defense spending bill that provides millions of dollars to an airline operator based in our home districts. Wait, lets reinstate the civil aeronautics board and control pricing and destination decisions too, because we're a bunch of power whores.[/Democrat]

3/6/2008 3:27:13 PM

I fly pretty often and have always searched for cheaper fairs on Southwest every time. Ive never found a cheaper fair on Southwest than I could have flown on another airline so im not sure why they call it a "discount airline".

3/7/2008 12:50:58 PM

More like:

[stupid fuck]

Quote :

"^ [Democrat]The government should now take control of all airline repairs and maintenance, subsidized by increased taxes on corporations and the rich. In addition, all those in the US making under 40,000 should now be able to buy discount airline tickets with a government grant. We'll also tack on an earmark to a defense spending bill that provides millions of dollars to an airline operator based in our home districts. Wait, lets reinstate the civil aeronautics board and control pricing and destination decisions too, because we're a bunch of power whores.[/Democrat]"

[/stupid fuck]

3/7/2008 12:52:41 PM

Jet blue is the only bargain airline that doesn't use the "we fly everyone else's out dated planes" business model

3/7/2008 1:01:43 PM

I'm not surprised about the Boing 737's... I worked on those as a co-op back in 2005 and they always required so much maintenance. One of them had so many repairs done to it that the weight of the fasteners used to attach the skin repairs actually made a significant flight difference so they had to take the paint off. Most of them were made back in the early 80s.

3/7/2008 2:10:21 PM

Ugg...oh well, I hated flying southwest anyway. I hate the "Pick your seat according to your place in line"

3/7/2008 7:04:05 PM

at least you can choose NOT to sit next to fatty mcsmelly goomba

3/7/2008 7:17:18 PM

I don't have a damn problem at all with Southwest. Shit even with these issues, they have a far and away better safety record and ontime record, not to mention profitability record, than any other airline in the US. I flew with them on some of the older ones a few months ago and felt completely safe the whole time.

I personally kinda enjoy the Southwest mentality. If you do your boarding pass online, then you'll always get a fucking seat in group A. Not that hard to figure out.

And not sure how they are flying everybody elses old crap. The fleet averages just under 10 years on the average airframe, and they are going to the -700 primarily. With the short hops they do, I doubt it would be worth the effort to upgrade to the 767 or switch to Airbus.

[Edited on March 7, 2008 at 7:34 PM. Reason : ]

3/7/2008 7:26:11 PM