Report: Southwest Airlines Flew at Least 117 ‘Unsafe’ Planes

Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 03.06.08 | 4:11 PM ET

Another headline I considered for this post: What I Didn’t Want to See Before I Fly Southwest Tomorrow. CNN’s Special Investigations Unit reported today:

Documents submitted by FAA inspectors to congressional investigators allege the airline flew at least 117 of its planes in violation of mandatory safety checks. In some cases, the documents say, the planes flew for 30 months after government inspection deadlines had passed and should have been grounded until the inspections could be completed.

Yikes. Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Brandy King told CNN, “We are not doing interviews. We are only preparing for the hearings at this time.” Democratic Rep. James Oberstar, who heads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is expected to call for those hearings soon. Southwest should rethink its “no comment” before those hearings, and preferably before 2 p.m. tomorrow when my flight leaves. I’d like to know a little more about what happened.

The FAA may also face scrutiny in the matter. From CNN: “The documents obtained by CNN also allege that some management officials at the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency responsible for commercial air safety, knew the planes were flying ‘unsafely’ and did nothing about it.”

Other sources are reporting that Southwest will face a $3 million fine for failing to properly inspect planes.