NEW DETAILS EMERGE ON HOLE IN SOUTHWEST 737-300 AS TWO MORE AIRCRAFT ARE FOUND WITH CRACKS

Boeing has stated that it is confident the rupture that tore a hole in the roof of a Southwest Airlines 737-300 would never occur on its 737-Next Generation aircraft it now produces. Paul Richter, Boeing’s chief project engineer for the 737-300/400/500 models, said the design of the lap joint installed on all classic 737s models built between 1993 and 2000, where the 1-by-5-foot hole opened up due to fatigue cracks in the metal emanating from the fastener holes, or lap joints, was specific to these vintage aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expected to issue an airworthiness directive that