Southwest grounds 128 73Gs due to failure to perform maintenance inspections

[FWAAA]

WN is having some issues keeping up with required maintenance inspections:

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

Southwest informed FAA around 5 p.m. of the problem. Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said the carrier canceled about 90 Tuesday flights as a result. She could not say how long it will take to complete all the inspections, which take about two hours per airplane.

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/02/rumor-southwest-airlines-forced-to-ground-a-bunch-of-airplanes.html/

 

[FWAAA]

Southwest issued a statement:

Statement regarding Inspection of standby Hydraulic Component

Feb 24 2015

Operational Impact Minimized as FAA approves plan to complete inspections within five days

Southwest Airlines 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. As a result of this discovery, 128 -700 aircraft were identified as having overflown a required check. Once identified, Southwest immediately and voluntarily removed the affected aircraft from service, initiated maintenance checks, disclosed the matter to the FAA, and developed an action plan to complete all overdue checks. The FAA approved a proposal that would allow Southwest to continue operating the aircraft for a maximum of five days as the checks are completed. Approximately 80 cancellations occurred today as a result of the events and the airline is anticipating a very minimal impact to their operations tomorrow. The Safety of our Customers and Employees remains our highest priority and we are working quickly to resolve the situation.

http://www.blogsouthwest.com/news/statement-regarding-inspection-of-standby-hydraulic-component/

So far today, more than 150 flights cancelled, with about 25 of those at DAL, plus about another 25 DAL arrivals cancelled, so the 80 cancellations due to the 73G inspections looks accurate.

 

[WorldTraveler]

and given that DL and AA are both cancelling more than that due to weather, the number of cancellations is not the issue.

the issue is that WN has ONCE AGAIN failed to handle a maintenance issue which affects a large number of aircraft in its fleet.


even if they voluntarily disclosed it, it is incredible to believe WN is STILL doing the same things wrong with their maintenance planning - esp. considering they operate so few subtypes of aircraft.

 

[traderjake]

FARs are more what you call guidelines, than actual rules...........

 

[ThirdSeatHero]

FARs are more what you call guidelines, than actual rules...........

 
And that is unfortunately all too true.

 

[Kev3188]

Can an AMT give an overview of what all this inspection entails? Thanks in advance.

 

[blue collar]

It was to check the hydraulic internal leakage of the standby rudder pcu. Basically to check the amount of hydraulic fluid 'leaking' through the actuator.

 

[topDawg]

and given that DL and AA are both cancelling more than that due to weather, the number of cancellations is not the issue.

the issue is that WN has ONCE AGAIN failed to handle a maintenance issue which affects a large number of aircraft in its fleet.


even if they voluntarily disclosed it, it is incredible to believe WN is STILL doing the same things wrong with their maintenance planning - esp. considering they operate so few subtypes of aircraft.

Only WN can get away with kind of crap. 
 
Must be nice to be the governments love child. 

 

[eolesen]

What exactly are they getting away with, Dawg?

WN made a self-disclosure, which in my experience means they don't get fined, and they grounded the airplanes while the checks were done.

Every airline with a self-disclosure program has that same opportunity, no?

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

What exactly are they getting away with, Dawg?WN made a self-disclosure, which in my experience means they don't get fined, and they grounded the airplanes while the checks were done.Every airline with a self-disclosure program has that same opportunity, no?

Yes, 98% of Part 121 certificate holders participate in the program. It is the FAA VDRP. It is covered in AC 00-58B.

http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_00-58B.pdf

 

[SharoninSAT]

Yes, 98% of Part 121 certificate holders participate in the program. It is the FAA VDRP. It is covered in AC 00-58B.

http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_00-58B.pdf

 
Thanks GQ...

 

[topDawg]

What exactly are they getting away with, Dawg?

WN made a self-disclosure, which in my experience means they don't get fined, and they grounded the airplanes while the checks were done.

Every airline with a self-disclosure program has that same opportunity, no?

I just feel like the old 
"whoops we forgot to do checks on 120+ airplanes" thing is a little much. 
 
a few? okay. 
 
120+ nah that just means you didn't want to do them. especially after they tried to go with the 737 sun roof option not to long ago....  
 
 
no problem with the self-disclosure part. 

 

[WorldTraveler]

AMEN!

esp. when WN really only has a couple fleet subtypes.

not sure what some good maintenance training software costs but you would think it should be considerably less than the $12M or so which was IIRC proposed from the last fine.

 

[eolesen]

I just feel like the old 
"whoops we forgot to do checks on 120+ airplanes" thing is a little much. 
 
a few? okay. 
 
120+ nah that just means you didn't want to do them. especially after they tried to go with the 737 sun roof option not to long ago....

Well, part of the self-disclosure criteria includes a determination by the FAA that it wasn't just a "we didn't want to do them" thing.

If FAA determines that this was just laziness, they'll be fined accordingly regardless of the self disclosure.

 

[blue collar]

I don't think any airline is too lazy to do required checks. The 'sun roof option' was deemed as Boeing's fault, not southwest's. They (boeing) changed the inspection threshold to 30,000 cycles instead of the original 60,000. It could have happened to any airline operating the 737 with high cycles. Remember the 757 that popped it's top? Once again, boeing's fault, not AA's