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.
Related on World Hum:
* Photo: What You Don’t Want to See in the Cockpit High Over Belize
* FAA Taking Hands-Off Approach to Space Travel
Email to friend
Twitter
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! Buzz
Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
Brad Daly 03.06.08 | 6:09 PM ET
That’s a damn shame. Southwest has long been my favorite airline for domestic travel. I thought they only cut corners in meals, uniforms, and a lot of the authoritarian BS the other airlines revel in. Now it appears they’ve been cutting corners in safety too. Shame on them if it’s true.
Just a guy 03.07.08 | 10:53 AM ET
Don’t let these headlines and selectively leaked exaggerated statements scare you. I will take my wife, children, and my grandchildren on any Southwest flight and know I’m flying on a safe Southwest plane. If you just knew the whole story, you would step right on the plane in absolute confidense. As a matter of fact, if you knew how honorable, open and trustworthy Southwest has acted since the beginning of this whole thing, you would be proud. I am.
Concerned Traveler 03.08.08 | 8:30 PM ET
While some may find the attitudes of Southwest authorities refreshing under such circumstance, as a parent that puts three children on Southwest flights, all I have to go on is safety. When you can’t trust a “respectable” company to do all it can to ensure their passengers safety, that’s when I find another company.
A pilot for someone else... 03.09.08 | 11:28 PM ET
You get what you pay for…..
A flight attendant 03.13.08 | 2:48 AM ET
Well hate to tell break the news to everyone but southwest is not the only airline that does not take care of they’re planes. Many other major airlines don’t want to spend they’re money and put certain things off until it becomes a big problem. And i agree with a few of you, about the media not giving the whole facts. Southwest does have a great safety record compared to other airlines.
richard ault 03.14.08 | 7:02 PM ET
There is a quote from Lawrence Lessigs book, CODE… “communism fell because it tired itself out”
Maybe our system of business and government tires itself out, so we don’t have to endure a bloody revolution someday soon. As it stands today our government has NO power in the face of most corporations.
The FAA is powerless, how is making them accountable going to change airlines?
It won’t, it’ll just punish the FAA pushing them further out of relevance.