Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comNTSB: Loose rivets found in Southwest plane with hole
Seeded on Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:59 AM EDT (msnbc.com)
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Don't blame the loose rivets..damm plane is old..common sense all these rivets come loose sooner or later..are they going to inspect all rivets ( average size jet has a few hundred thousands).
I did repair work on sheet metal with rivets..no way they inspect each one too make sure they are flatten to the spec's!
What the heck.!!
You throw all the parts in a box and ship it out to the buyer.
It's the same as buying one that is all put together. It weighs the same...
This must be one of those Monday morning assembly line products. Hungover union workers drilling the wrong sized holes. It's all Obama's fault as he is a poor leader and he supports unionized labor. No airplane is safe to fly while Obama is in office.
These lap joints are not just riveted together. They are also epoxied together to form a air/moisture tight seal.
If the rivets have worn loose/failed, this airframe has major problems... Hopefully this is just limited to this production model...
The new inspection cycle should identify any more problems...
Not always.
The rivets are put in "wet" but laps are not always epoxied.
In an ideal world, yes the laps would be sealed, but they are not always done this way.
And some mechanics will even forgo the "wet rivet" system to keep from getting the crap all over them.
The only necessary seals are for pressurization areas.
And sadly some mechanics don't even know where those are.
I know.
Paul Richter, Boeing’s chief project engineer for the 737-300/ 400/500 models, said the 1-by-5-foot hole opened up because of fatigue cracks in the metal emanating from the fastener holes at the so-called lap joints, where two panels overlap and are spliced together.
Richter said that the specific design of this lap joint was installed on all classic 737s models built between 1993 and 2000, a total of 570 airplanes.
Boeing has issued a service bulletin for airlines recommending immediate inspections and the Federal Aviation Administration is set to release an airworthiness directive Tuesday, mandating that airlines inspect all 737s with this lap joint design that have flown more than 30,000 take-off and landing cycles.
Richter said the lap joint that failed was an improved design, developed after Boeing determined that an earlier version of the lap joint could result in the cracking along the inside row of fastener holes.
Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/04/06/v-lite/1614709/boeing-details-737-cracks.html#ixzz1KaIFEyLt
BTY - This was in a pressurized and highly stressed area. These joints are CDIed and QARed, a structural mechanic just does not skip certain production steps. Plus the Airlines had NOTHING to do with this procedure. It was preformed by Boeing during the manufacture of the airframe...
I have over 20+years in aircraft maintenance...
If the holes were misshapen it could be because of lack of inspection (which airlines are
good at) or the wrong sized rivet.
Rivets are supposed to fit precise.
Sometimes, however, stress from pressurization and depressurization can cause the
very same effect.
These aircraft are NOT inspected enough between flights.
One reason why I hate flying commercial.
Corsair..did you ever try to put a bigger object into a smaller hole ( besides a human)?
Have you ever worked on aircraft like I have for over 33 years?
Just goes to show that Boeing builds tough airplanes.Nice going Boeing.
Boeing sold a great product - 15 years ago. I think these planes ae beyond any factory warranty. Now it's up to the owners to do the required maintenance. Of course, doing it properly without cutting corners (cheating) would cut into profits. We wouldn't want to see that happen to the airlines. They will continue to cheat and cut corners until somebody dies and they get caught. Us "consumers" call it "corporate greed".
Southwest, cutting corners every day for profit. Now we begin to see the sad results of too many bean counters in the maintenance process. Low level executives afraid of losing their jobs, cutting budgets, threatening workers with their jobs if they dont finish jobs faster, even if it means they cant really do the job correctly. it happens every single night in hangars around the country. Dead passengers and crew will never know what killed them. Shoddy maintenance thanks to poor management.
The NTSB mentioned a failure in inspection. You just can't inspect quality into a product. Quality must be built in by the person doing the riveting. The hole size must be precise and the rivet must be the correct size for the hole and the correct length.
Must of been built on a monday or friday.
Welll. What is the biggest problem! DEEEREGULAATION! For the last fifty years, we have had all of these Commie Conservative Republicans blathering about how big government is bad and the Corporate Economy can run itself quite nicely thank you. Now, we are a third world country that has been sold to Commie China for the biggest profit for a bunch of ponzi running multi billion dollar a year each salaried Hedge Fund Managers. The truth of the matter is that corporations are run for the maximum profit. They violate their oath of office if they do otherwise. Regulation by a reasoned impartial government is the ONLY WAY TO GO. The government is the only institution that is able and obliged to adequately regulate the inspections. Put it back in charge of what it does best and send the bozos that say otherwise back home to their burger flipping jobs.
Where were the inspectors? You generally can't take a deep breath without one. According to this report it was the construction and not maintenance shortcomings. Southwest is hardly to blame for not getting what they paid Boeing for.
Most silly statement I think I have ever heard....
Same old story of possible sloppy work in our manufacturing process. We screw up on autos with constant recalls, why not aircraft. The current explanation seems very plausible, i.e. rivet holes too large and missed inspections. Let's focus on our jobs folks, same with Air Traffic Controllers. We have become a sloppy nation in many sectors.
I'm not surprised, I told everyone I know I don't want to fly on a Boeing airplane that was built between 1995, thru 2001 especially ones built during the time of the highest production in the late 90's. I worked at Boeing I know, production was streamlined inspections were not done. In some cases criminal cases should be brought against some of the inspection supervisors for bullying inspectors to stamp off processes and to streamline their inspection routine to meet production.
Seeing that Southwest Airlines did not do any frame work to these aircraft, it would have to be the manufacture, Boeing. I still feel that these aircraft are safe and the pilots flying them are professional and experienced.
Another case of poor workmanship and not enough money. Where is Rosie the Riveter when you need her? Had the same problem with military jets, back when my husband was in the military. Government never wanted to give them enough money to fix the Phantoms properly.
The Boeing 737 has been my second home as a flight attendant for over 17 years and I would not continue to fly if I felt this incident was not rectified properly! Kudos to Boeing and our great SWA mechanics who really pulled through quickly on this one!
I would rather have small hole in the roof of a 737 then the tail stabilizer break on an MD-80. When I have things built for the military i have to have it everything inspected, weather its a $1 bolt or $100,000 foundation. It isn't cheap and it takes time but is better and cheaper to fix it then than after everything is finished and painted.