Imagine that you are just getting comfortable on an airplane. The pilot has removed the “buckle your seatbelt” sign and the flight attendants begin strolling the aisle and offering beverages. You click through the movies available on the small television in the seat in front of you and prepare for your long journey to California, New York, or wherever your destination may be. You slowly sink deeper into your seat and begin to relax. All of a sudden you hear a loud BANG and your peaceful state immediately vanishes. Panic strikes the rest of the passengers of the aircraft as soon as it strikes you. The oxygen masks deploy from overhead before you realize what’s happening. Millions of questions race through your mind such as: “Is this an attack?” and “Are we going to crash?” This is not an attack on the airplane, but the latter could be true, all because of what started out as microscopic cracks in the aluminum of the plane. These cracks gradually grew over time, and resulted in a chunk of your airplane’s roof to fly off. In this high altitude, you have just seconds to put your oxygen mask on before you start to get light headed. Once this occurs, it is all too difficult to even get your oxygen mask on.
Each time an airplane takes off and lands, these microscopic cracks grow in quantity and size because of the pressure and depressurization. A Southwest aircraft taking off from Arizona lived a long life of 15 years. It had been pressurized and depressurized about 39,000 times. What this means for the passengers is that this plane had taken off or landed 2,600 times a year. Some feel that it’s a bit too risky to fly in planes at all. If you knew that the plane you were about to be traveling thousands of miles in had made similar trips about seven times earlier that day, would you rethink your decision? I know I would.
The FAA has now declared that many of Boeing designed airplanes be inspected for cracks such as this Southwest jet had. When Southwest was questioned about their other airplanes, they played the blame game by putting most of the responsibility on Boeing. Boeing Co. is now doing what they can to assist in the inspections of planes. But is this enough?
Even if all of these airplanes pass inspection, they still have an average lifespan of 30 years. This means that Southwest’s plane that had its roof ripped off was only halfway through its life. Considering how much these planes go through in their life, this seems like a pretty high number. The fact of the matter is: the passengers don’t know much about these giant vessels flying through the air. If I’m going to be putting my life in the hands of these aluminum machines, I’d at least like to know some information about them. Say, their age and past inspections. Knowing that a plane is at the end of its lifespan may cause me to reconsider which airline I choose the next time I book a flight.
--Nicole
Article: Christie, Bob, and Joan Lowy. "FAA to require new safety inspections on Boeing 737s." Travel News. MSNBC, 5 Apr 2011. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42402550/ns/travel-news/>.
Picture: Southwest accident prompts inspection order. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2011/04/04/li-southwest-620-00453024.jpg>.
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