It’s great they were fined, but did Southwest finally do the repairs they were fined for skipping?
“… did Southwest finally do the repairs they were fined for skipping…”
Good question: Did they regard the fines as just a cost of doing business as Ford did with the Pinto when they found it to be cheaper to settle lawsuits with NDA’s than it was to recall the cars.
Of course, this fits the republican idea of “free enterprise”: avoid any regulation, cut corners for short term economic benefit, take risks that might save a few bucks if you don’t get caught, do the cost/benefit analysis to see if the benefit of cheating outweighs the cost of a disaster. For more on this warm and fuzzy topic, read about how Don Blankenship avoided OSHA regulations resulting in the deaths of 29 miners in a Massey Energy disaster. Just the free market doing its thing, dontcha know.
My guess is the next owners of Southwest live in Albuquerque.
The biggest FAA fine against Southwest was $7.5 million in 2009. The FAA said Southwest kept 46 planes flying even though they had skipped critical inspections of the fuselage for metal fatigue.
Five years later, the FAA proposed a $12 million fine over 44 planes that had undergone improper fuselage repairs while at a contractor hired by Southwest. The airline settled a lawsuit by agreeing to pay $2.8 million.
The 2016 engine failure over Florida highlighted the need for closer inspection of engine blades. Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said that after engine maker CFM International recommended more inspections last year, Southwest had inspected all fan blades covered by the recommendation before last week’s accident.
King said the airline will meet a new CFM recommendation to inspect all older fan blades by the end of August. She said the airline is also inspecting all newer fan blades, a move not yet required by the FAA.