FAA to Airlines: Speed Up the Boeing 737 Inspections

Newer model Boeing 737s—specifically, potentially dangerous bolts in the wings of the jets—are under scrutiny this week. Inspectors have linked an Aug. 20 explosion and fire on a China Airlines 737 on the tarmac in Japan—all 165 people aboard escaped unharmed—to a loose bolt that probably allowed fuel to leak and caused a fire to start. In response, the FAA first mandated inspections of 737s be completed within 24 days, but after loose bolts were discovered in four 737s this week, the FAA has ratcheted up the order, giving airlines just 10 days to complete the work.

The planes are widely used in the U.S. and around the globe.

Writes Alan Levin at USA Today:

Boeing has sold 2,287 of the newer 737s around the world, including 783 to airlines in the USA. Southwest Airlines, the largest operator of the jets in this country with 277, has already completed its inspections, said spokeswoman Edna Ruano. She declined to say what the airline found.

Continental, Delta, American, Alaska, AirTran and ATA also have the jets. The airlines “do not expect any impact to scheduled service,” said Victoria Day, spokeswoman for the Air Transport Association.

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Photo by Sir Mildred Pierce via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

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