Now you can get 2 Mishaps for the Price of 1

Ya know, Southwest Airlines to me is becoming like the Alcoholic Father.  You really want to be proud of him.  You really do.  But he keeps showing up to the PTA meetings drunk.

After being put under Federal investigation for an incident 2 weeks ago, where a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 had a hole rip through its fuselage that stemmed from a minor crack, even more Southwest Airlines planes were found with the same cracks that led to the mishap.  In addition to this discovery, it was found that Southwest Airlines delayed, or tried to eliminate Federally mandated inspections, claiming that such inspections of their inventory would create a “significant burden” to their operations.

Well now Southwest is slippin-and-slidin all the way off the runways, as that’s what yet another Southwest Airlines, 737 Boeing did at Chicago Midway Airport yesterday.  Now, I understand it was rainin’ and all… but it just doesn’t look too good.  What makes that even more fu@ked up, is they offered their passengers a refund of their round trip tickets, and 2 complimentary round trip tickets.  NOOOOO Thank you.  With 3 sets of round trip tickets, I now have 6 chances for another “Southwest Airlines Alcoholic Father Mishap“.  Why don’t you rent me a car for a month, or a local hotel for 2 weeks, so I can keep my feet on the ground, and my self under a safe roof.

Thankfully there was only one reported injury and all other passengers were safely evacuated from the plane.  The flight was 7 passengers over capacity, 5 of which were lap babies.

So after all of this, the U.S. Government is still down to approve a $1 Billion merger between Southwest Airlines and AirTrans, which they just did,  now allowing the two to have chancy flights and mishaps all over the country !!  Even more concerning, is that AirTrans primarily uses Boeing 737 planes as well.

Well, let’s hope that all 3 of these companies can get it together.. Southwest, AirTrans and Boeing.

Because what’s the point in being free to move about the country, if you never make it about the country.

www.SunOfHollywood.com

Don't You Know That's The Sound Of The Blame... Bouncing From The Planes

After careful inspections of 737 Boeing aircraft, prompted by the emergency landing of a Southwest Airliner that left a 5-foot hole in its fuselage, Boeing said that its engineering and safety experts were caught off guard by the incident.  Boeing admitted to grossly miscalculating the safety of certain older versions of their 737’s, stating they knew such risks of cracking problems did exist, but didn’t anticipate these possibilities to occur until much later in their lifespan.

Now Boeing  had advised airlines that the planes could make 60,000 flights before they needed to undergo detailed inspections of the relevant sections. On Tuesday, Boeing said that it miscalculated: it now recommends inspections after 30,000 flights, half the previous threshold.  The current situation Boeing is facing after the Friday incident with Southwest gives the public a rare glimpse into how Boeing is able to handle unexpected problems, since the company prides itself on engineering prowess and its ability to predict such wear.

This new finding is now raising doubts in Boeings true understanding of the longevity and safety of their engineering, especially since new technology will be implemented in their new 787 Dreamliner aircraft, half of which will be composed of carbon-fiber composite material, a material in which Boeing has much less long term experience with.

In truth, the Southwest incident thankfully raised awareness to these problems before anybody has lost their life.  Hopefully with all the focus and attention on Southwest and Boeing, higher standards of engineering and disclosure of information can lead to safer standards in aviation.

Wanna get away? I think Southwest is ready to book a flight outta here

See… This is why I don’t like to fly

Southwest Airlines cancelled over 300 flights for a 2nd day in a row as it continued to inspect almost 80 planes they’ve grounded for damage similar to that of the 737 that had to make an emergency landing in Yuma, Arizona yesterday. Mechanics discovered a tear along the “lap joint” which showed extensive cracking that was undiscovered in previous maintenance checks. This definitely doesn’t sound good for Southwest’s future business. In fact, I bet a lot of people are going to sell short their stock or throw money into some put options.

The plane in yesterday’s emergency landing had 118 passengers, many of whom felt the end was near for them, prompting them to send text messages to loved ones like “Our plane is going down! I love you”. I would hate to be on a plane in a situation like that.

The plane originally tried to make an emergency landing in Phoenix, but decided to divert to Yuma as the closest suitable airport. Oxygen masks fell and the cabin lost pressure at just around 18 minutes into the flight after departing from Phoenix, on its way to Sacramento, California.

A hole ripped through the cabin of a Southwest Airlines plane as shown in this photo provided by passenger Christine Ziegler

Thankfully no serious injuries were reported and nobody came close to losing their lives. Let’s all be thankful that nobody lost their lives in this, and that Southwest was able prevent any serious disasters. The NTSB and Boeing will oversee repair work on the plane in Yuma, Arizona.