The Suit Magazine

After undetected weak spots led to the formation of a five-foot hole on the roof of an airborne Southwest jetliner earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration is requiring extensive inspections of older-model Boeing 737’s for cracks in the aluminum underskin caused by years of wear and tear. Pressurization and de-pressurization upon take-off and landing causes the stress.
The new F.A.A. inspection regulations have impacted over 175 aircrafts worldwide, including 80 that are based in the U.S. alone.  Since the implementation, three more planes with weakened exteriors have been identified, all Southwest aircrafts.   This recent string of findings bewilders safety experts, who believed metal fatigue problems among aircrafts had been resolved after the Aloha Airlines accident in the late eighties.    
Though Southwest insists it has successfully inspected all of its aircraft, the carrier is now under scrutiny for its high numbers of flight segments per day.  Unlike its competitors whose aircrafts typically fly six to eight daily segments, Southwest’s numbers float between 10 and 12, making its aircrafts age significantly faster than those of competing airlines. 
The Southwest jet involved in the incident earlier this month, for example, had logged 39,000 take-offs and landings since the beginning of its career in 1996, a remarkably high figure for a 15-year-old jet.   

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