Ageing Boeing 737-300 cracks in mid-flight over Phoenix

[Jim Smith, Air Safety Contributor]

Huffpost Business: Southwest Airlines have grounded around 80 of its aircraft as a result of  an incident last Friday when its Boeing 737-300 aircraft emergency-landed after a hole erupted in the passenger cabin.

No one had been seriously injured, but many were frightened as the 118-passenger-strong aircraft lost pressure and came down from 34,500 feet to land in Yuma, Arizona.  Federal investigators were on the scene on Friday to find out how the hole had come about.

In March last year, at least eight instances of cracks had appeared in the aircraft’s chassis. They had all been repaired.

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Tags: Aircraft, Boeing, Boeing 737, Boeing 737 Classic, Cabin pressurization, Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, Southwest Airlines, Yuma Arizona