YUMA, Arizona (AP) — Three more Southwest Airlines jetliners have small, subsurface cracks that are similar to the cracks suspected of playing a role in the fuselage tear of a Boeing (News – Alert) 737–300, causing the aircraft to lose pressure and forcing a frightening emergency landing, officials say.
The 5–foot–long (1 1/2 meter–long) hole tore open in the passenger cabin roof area shortly after the plane left Phoenix for Sacramento, California, Friday afternoon. None of the 118 people aboard was seriously hurt as the plane descended from 34,400 feet (10,500 meters) to a military base in Yuma, 150 miles (240 kilometers) southwest of Phoenix.
Since then Southwest grounded its 79 other Boeing 737–300s and began inspecting them.
Sunday night, another Southwest Boeing jet was diverted, this time because of a burning electrical smell in the passenger cabin, Southwest and Los Angeles International Airport officials said.
The plane carrying 142 people was en route from Oakland, California, to San Diego, when it made an unscheduled landing in Los Angeles, where passengers changed planes and continued on their journey, Southwest spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said. No one was hurt.
She said the cause of electrical smell is being investigated, but it “was completely unrelated to the issue in Arizona.” She said Sunday’s aircraft was also a Boeing 737–300, the same model of aircraft involved in the Phoenix flight.
In its statement on the inspections, Southwest said Sunday that two planes have been found to cracks similar to those in the stricken aircraft and will be evaluated and repaired before they are returned to service. A National Transportation Safety Board member told The Associated Press (News – Alert) later that a third plane had been found with cracks developing.
Spokeswoman Brandy King said Monday morning that Southwest had inspected 33 similar planes and returned them to service and expected to complete checks on remaining grounded planes by late Tuesday. Southwest said three planes had cracks similar to those in the Phoenix jet and would be repaired before they fly again.
Southwest Airlines expected to cancel 70 more flights, or 2 percent of its Monday schedule, as it inspected older planes for cracks in the fuselage. The airline canceled about 600 flights and grounded 79 planes over the weekend.
The cracks found in the three planes developed in two lines of riveted joints that run the length of the aircraft. The agency is focusing its probe on the area of the cracks but has not determined that the cracks caused the rupture.
The Federal Aviation Administration declined to say if it was requiring other operators to check their aircraft for similar flaws.
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Associated Press writers David Koenig contributed from Dallas; Joan Lowy from Washington, D.C.; and Terry Tang, Walter Berry and Mark Evans from Phoenix.
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