SOUTHWEST FLIGHT NOT FIRST TO SUFFER FUSELAGE TEARING

Southwest Flight 812, which suffered a fuselage rupture and rapid decompression before landing safely Friday, is not the first aircraft in the airline's fleet to experience such problems.

In 2009, a foot-long hole opened in the top of a jet while it was cruising at 30,000 feet, forcing an emergency landing in West Virginia.

That same year, the airline was fined $7.5 million by the FAA for nearly 60,000 flights for which planes had not undergone required inspections for fuselage cracks.

“Given Southwest’s history, this raises a real concern,” said Jim Hall, an airline safety consultant and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. “Everyone knows they pound those airplanes hard.”

[link to latimesblogs.latimes.com]