Southwest Flight 812

[signals]

LUV Responds to Flight812 incident. Flight from Phoenix to Sacramento makes an emergency landing in Yuma due to loss of pressure. The cause? A hole on the top of the aircraft.

www.blogsouthwest.com/news/southwest-airlines-flight-812

 

[whatkindoffreshhell]

Splendid job by the crew to bring the crippled plane down safely. That was a great comment by the passenger 'like riding with a window open' -- one of those life situations that you never know how you'll react until you are actually thrust into the moment.

This aircraft will be beer cans next, eh?

 

[SharoninSAT]

.
Absolutely great job by the crew in handling the situation.
We're grateful there were no serious injuries.

"Southwest is working with Boeing on an inspection regimen for 79 of our 737-300s that are covered by a set of FAA Airworthiness Directives aimed at inspections for aircraft skin fatigue. Each aircraft will remain out of service until it is inspected over the course of the next several days".

 

[WorldTraveler]

It appears that WN is WN is operating with a fairly low number of cancellations today gvien the number of aircraft that have been pulled from service but with fairly extensive delays. Of course, WN's schedule on Saturdays is a lot lighter than other days so the speed with which they get these planes back in service will determine how quickly the airline can return to normalcy.

And of course the big question is whether there were any things that WN didn't do to detect this problem earlier (ie fail to follow previous guidelines) since this type of problem has happened several times before on 737s AND what additional inspections will be required going forward. The fact that older 737s continue to have this problem indicates that the solutions that have been implemented aren't working.

It is possible that WN might be forced to spend a lot more money on aircraft replacement at the same time that it might want to get rid of FL's 717 fleet.

 

[balloonguy]

It appears that WN is WN is operating with a fairly low number of cancellations today gvien the number of aircraft that have been pulled from service but with fairly extensive delays. Of course, WN's schedule on Saturdays is a lot lighter than other days so the speed with which they get these planes back in service will determine how quickly the airline can return to normalcy.

And of course the big question is whether there were any things that WN didn't do to detect this problem earlier (ie fail to follow previous guidelines) since this type of problem has happened several times before on 737s AND what additional inspections will be required going forward. The fact that older 737s continue to have this problem indicates that the solutions that have been implemented aren't working.

It is possible that WN might be forced to spend a lot more money on aircraft replacement at the same time that it might want to get rid of FL's 717 fleet.

 

[Jim Lively]

And of course the big question is whether there were any things that WN didn't do to detect this problem earlier (ie fail to follow previous guidelines) since this type of problem has happened several times before on 737s AND what additional inspections will be required going forward. The fact that older 737s continue to have this problem indicates that the solutions that have been implemented aren't working.

Looks like someone from Southwest needs to go to Central America where they have their maintenance done and make sure they are getting it done correctly. It's obvious they aren't getting what they paid for.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Looks like someone from Southwest needs to go to Central America where they have their maintenance done and make sure they are getting it done correctly. It's obvious they aren't getting what they paid for.

so, Jim, are you saying that there are existing maintenance procedures and checks in place that should have discovered this?
Given that this type of thing has happened multiple times on many airlines, it is an issue that needs to be addressed. Where this aircraft falls in terms of age and cycles as well as the joint techniques used by Boeing (which I believe have changed) are questions that will be asked.
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but it seems a given that the same problem cannot continue to come up over and over.

 

[signals]

so, Jim, are you saying that there are existing maintenance procedures and checks in place that should have discovered this?
Given that this type of thing has happened multiple times on many airlines, it is an issue that needs to be addressed. Where this aircraft falls in terms of age and cycles as well as the joint techniques used by Boeing (which I believe have changed) are questions that will be asked.
.
but it seems a given that the same problem cannot continue to come up over and over.

I think he is talking about outsourcing maintenance to a foreign country which is what most airlines are doing nowadays.

This aircraft was only 15 years old and it drives me crazy that DC 9s from the 60s are still holding themselves together. I hold all my comments until the final conclusion is made.

 

[signals]

.
Absolutely great job by the crew in handling the situation.
We're grateful there were no serious injuries.

"Southwest is working with Boeing on an inspection regimen for 79 of our 737-300s that are covered by a set of FAA Airworthiness Directives aimed at inspections for aircraft skin fatigue. Each aircraft will remain out of service until it is inspected over the course of the next several days".

Landing a crippled aircraft with NO casualties is always a great job!The quick thinking of the pilots to drop to 11,000 ft. to ease breathing, the keeping the calm of the rest of the crew, restores my faith in the skills that are taken for granted! 😉

Passengers were shaken, but had no complaints!

Great Job, WN!

 

[traderjake]

Is this one of the airplanes Southwest knew had scratches and gouges due to improper stripping of paint?

edited by me

 

[signals]

Is this one of the airplanes Southwest knew had stress fractures due to improper stripping of paint?

As long as WN corrects the problem, who cares?

 

[traderjake]

If what I was told is true Southwest has a large number of airplanes with the same kind of scratches and gouges that they were planning on retiring early because they are too expensive to fix.

This incident may be unrelated.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Is this one of the airplanes Southwest knew had scratches and gouges due to improper stripping of paint?

Didn't know WN had experienced that problem, too. US did, with some outscourced outfit back in '05 or so to five 733s IIRC (Too lazy to look up the link to the thread on it. ) Those ships were on FAA mandate not be painted again, so CCY came up with a marketing silly gimmick to go with bare metal look.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Signals,
it is indeed great news when something that could have been catastrophic turned out not to be... but let's also keep in mind that pilots at all western airlines are trained for depressurization emergencies on a regular basis. Doesn't mean it works out the way it is supposed to but they were properly trained - and used that training well.

While the pilots did a great job in the clutch of the emergency, the bigger question will be what caused this latest fuselage failure and was everything done that could have been done to have detected the possibility of something like this happening.... yes, outsourcing will be brought into question but the airline is ultimately responsible for its own planes and should have people both on site at the foreign MRO and to have done inspections after the fact to make sure everything was done as it should have been.

I suspect it won't take very long before information starts leaking out about what was going on... if WN was doing everything it was supposed to do and there were no known issues, then it becomes more of a Boeing issue - and it sheds even more doubt on the safety of older, high cycle Boeing narrowbodies... If there is evidence that WN failed to maintain its airplanes properly after the former very large fine or if there is evidence that there was damage such as etches that were known, the repercussions could be very large and very severe.

 

[swamt]

It appears that WN is WN is operating with a fairly low number of cancellations today gvien the number of aircraft that have been pulled from service but with fairly extensive delays. Of course, WN's schedule on Saturdays is a lot lighter than other days so the speed with which they get these planes back in service will determine how quickly the airline can return to normalcy.

And of course the big question is whether there were any things that WN didn't do to detect this problem earlier (ie fail to follow previous guidelines) since this type of problem has happened several times before on 737s AND what additional inspections will be required going forward. The fact that older 737s continue to have this problem indicates that the solutions that have been implemented aren't working.

It is possible that WN might be forced to spend a lot more money on aircraft replacement at the same time that it might want to get rid of FL's 717 fleet.

WN will not be getting rid of the 717's. I too will hold all comments until results come out. However I will say this; Boeing has already admitted to manufactures defects in some of the 737's crown skins. My opinion, as is alot of others, is that the crown skins AND the next lower skin panels on both sides are too thin for the cycles we put on them. I also believe this will induce WN to look at another manufacture more seriously...