FAA considers changes to aging aircraft policy following Southwest incident
April 13, 2011, 11:12 pm
The Federal Aviation Administration is considering making changes to its aging aircraft policy in the aftermath of the recent incident in which a large piece of the fuselage of a 15-year-old Southwest Aircraft tore off mid-flight, according to AVweb.
The original aging aircraft and metal fatigue policy was introduced last November and was intended to prevent fatigue-related damage to aircrafts by mandating that manufacturers come up with plans to inspect aging aircraft. Manufacturers were given five years to determine a plan of action and six additional years to implement that plan, the source says.
Now, given the recent incident, the FAA has decided to intensify their inspection plans and are reviewing certain aircraft types which could potentially lead to the development of more strict guidelines, AVweb reports. This is particularly true since the damaged Southwest aircraft was approximately 20,000 flight cycles short of the industry's projected limit.
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