AVIATION/ SW INCIDENT SPURS FAA RULE

The FAA has finalized a rule it proposed in September 2009 requiring structural inspections of Boeing 737 classics for cracks after SOUTHWEST AIRLINES experienced an in-flight skin rupture and depressurisation on a 737-300. As previously posted, on July 13, 2009, SW Flight 2294 was on Scheduled Domestic Service from Nashville, Tennessee, to Baltimore, Maryland, with 126 passengers and 5 crew members onboard, when the incident took place. Flight 2294 was about 25 minutes into its flight, and climbing to 34000 feet, when a hole of about 1ft x 1 ft opened in the passenger cabin ceiling just before the root of the vertical tail. This caused the immediate decompression of the aircraft, and the deployment of the O2 masks. The crew declared an emergency and descended to 11500 feet. The 737 was immediately diverted to Charleston, West Virginia, where it landed without incident, about 20 minutes later. No one onboard the aircraft was injured in the incident. The FAA says that the inspections required in the final rule cover Boeing 737-300/400/500 series aircraft, and must be completed before the accumulation of 35,000 flight cycles or within 500 flight cycles of the rule's February 16 effective date. If no cracking is found, repetitive inspections are required at certain intervals not to exceed 500 flight cycles. At the time of the Southwest incident, the affected aircraft had accumulated 42,569 cycles. Carriers can be exempt from the continued inspections if they have installed an external doubler in a specific area on the fuselage outlined in a Boeing service bulletin issued in September of 2009. The FAA estimates 135 aircraft are affected by the new rulemaking.