DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - Southwest Airlines' fleet is being reduced by two for the time being.
The problem is in a part known as a pickle fork, which attaches a plane's fuselage to its wing structure.
The FAA ordered inspections on all Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft after getting a report of a severely cracked pickle fork in one of them.
The Dallas-based airline says it found two of its 737 NG planes with cracked pickle forks.
It grounded those planes and reported its findings to Boeing and the FAA.
Southwest released a statement:
Southwest completed all inspections of the "pickle forks" on high-cycle 737 Next Generation (NG) aircraft in compliance with the seven-day deadline specified in the FAA’s recent Airworthiness Directive (AD). During our inspections of the high-cycle NGs, we did not find abnormalities on the vast majority of our inspected fleet but did identify signs of pickle fork cracking on two aircraft. Southwest has removed the two aircraft from our operation and reported the findings to Boeing and the FAA. The aircraft will remain out of our schedule until the issues have been fully resolved. Safety is always our uncompromising priority, and our Technical Operations Team is now focused on completing inspections of the remaining portion of the 737 NG fleet covered by the AD
