Boeing 737 planes are breaking down faster than expected

Boeing 737 planes are breaking down faster than expected

Boeing 737 aircraft used by many airlines around the world may not be as sturdy as originally designed. Manufacturer Boeing Inc. admitted that metal fatigue could be affecting the planes much sooner than they projected.

Older models of Boeing 737 planes are currently being inspected for cracks in the fuselage after a five-foot hole opened during a Southwest Airlines flight on Friday.

Senior Boeing engineer Paul Richter told the New York Times that they estimated that the aluminium skin and the joints holding the parts together will only show signs of metal fatigue after about 60,000 takeoffs and landings. The Southwest Boeing 737 plane involved in Friday's emergency landing only had about 40,000 cycles.

Southwest Airlines has said it is adhering to all safety inspections on all its aircraft according to regulations and points out its good safety record over the years.

The airline may get off the hook if the manufacturer is found to have miscalculated their safety projections.

An ongoing investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration will shed more light into the matter. A total of 175 older type Boeing 737 aircraft will be required to be grounded for inspection every 500 flights until the extent of the problem is known.

The high usage rate of today's aircraft may be a big contributing factor to incidents such as the one that happened on Friday. As the cabin is subjected to more cycles of pressurization and depressurization, metal fatigue sets in more rapidly.

Engineers, regulators and airlines may need to rethink about the phenomenon of metal fatigue affecting aircraft and subsequent adjustments in safety inspections of more planes other than the Boeing 737.

Posted by Sophia Andrews on Tuesday April 05 2011, 11:46 PM EDT. Ref: NYT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0