I'm certainly not saying it isn't serious. I just wouldn't plaster it as a historical recurrence.
Wikipedia suggests Southwest has at least 700 aircraft running 6 flights per day, implying 4,200+ flights per day, implying about 1.5+ million flights per year.
1-3 flights with major incidents out of 1.5 million? I would hardly call that a "wave of malfunctions" as it stands.
But I do agree comparing maintenance facilities would be interesting.
No. Their duty cycle per plane is 3-4x what other airline companies do. Their aircrafts undergo a lot more stress than other airlines, so the fact they have so many more flights isn't impressive, it's the CAUSE of their problems.
Several years ago they had a case of their fuselage ripping open midflight, and the reason was that the stress of taking off and landing puts a lot more stress on their planes.
Doesn't the FAA approve aircraft maintenance plans? As far as I know, they consider cycles in the plans.
It's surprising that the FAA would allow them to have an interval 4X that of other airlines. Well, perhaps more surprising would be if other airlines would do 4X more maintenance checks than Southwest if they could get away with less.
Wikipedia suggests Southwest has at least 700 aircraft running 6 flights per day, implying 4,200+ flights per day, implying about 1.5+ million flights per year.
1-3 flights with major incidents out of 1.5 million? I would hardly call that a "wave of malfunctions" as it stands.
But I do agree comparing maintenance facilities would be interesting.