Emergency inspections begin on 300 Boeing 737s
SEATTLE - Alaska Airlines already has begun inspections of Boeing 737 jetliners covered by an emergency airworthiness directive issued Friday by the FAA.
The FAA order came down after a 737 started experiencing severe vibration while in flight over Europe. It requires the inspection of 300 of the planes.
Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has 14 of the planes and has already inspected two of them, which were found to have no problems. The remainder will be inspected over the next six days, said Alaska Airlines spokesman Paul McElroy.
The flight that had a problem was high above Europe when it started shaking - witnesses described it as "severe vibration."
The pilot quickly diverted to a nearby airport and made a successful emergency landing.
The FAA reports that the vibration on board that Boeing 737 was due to a lug failure on an elevator control mechanism. The elevator controls the plane's pitch.
"This condition, if not corrected, could result in a loss of aircraft control and structural integrity," the FAA said in a prepared statement.
Local aviation consultant Hans Weber says in that situation the plane would actually flutter, but he says in Friday's incident the plane oscillated - far from fluttering.
"If you have oscillations occuring, and any risk those oscillations can be taken to a flutter then this will be taken very seriously because if flutter were to occur that is very destructive," Weber said.
About 300 737s in the United States will have to be inspected in the next 30 days. Most of those are commercial planes, officials said.
The emergency airworthiness directive covers Boeing models 737-600, -700, -700C, -800, -900, and -900ER.
Boeing issued a service bulletin earlier Friday recommending that airlines do the inspection on all its newer generation 737s - that's about 3,000 planes.
The FAA order came down after a 737 started experiencing severe vibration while in flight over Europe. It requires the inspection of 300 of the planes.
Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has 14 of the planes and has already inspected two of them, which were found to have no problems. The remainder will be inspected over the next six days, said Alaska Airlines spokesman Paul McElroy.
The flight that had a problem was high above Europe when it started shaking - witnesses described it as "severe vibration."
The pilot quickly diverted to a nearby airport and made a successful emergency landing.
The FAA reports that the vibration on board that Boeing 737 was due to a lug failure on an elevator control mechanism. The elevator controls the plane's pitch.
"This condition, if not corrected, could result in a loss of aircraft control and structural integrity," the FAA said in a prepared statement.
Local aviation consultant Hans Weber says in that situation the plane would actually flutter, but he says in Friday's incident the plane oscillated - far from fluttering.
"If you have oscillations occuring, and any risk those oscillations can be taken to a flutter then this will be taken very seriously because if flutter were to occur that is very destructive," Weber said.
About 300 737s in the United States will have to be inspected in the next 30 days. Most of those are commercial planes, officials said.
The emergency airworthiness directive covers Boeing models 737-600, -700, -700C, -800, -900, and -900ER.
Boeing issued a service bulletin earlier Friday recommending that airlines do the inspection on all its newer generation 737s - that's about 3,000 planes.