I'm sure you heard about 1 passenger dead and 7 injured today on a SW airlines flight.
Here is an article I found interesting from last year.
As you know, Boeing doesn't make engines. Customers select which brand they want.

Or in the case of Southwest, some bean counter said "Hey! Let's take those old engines off the old airframes, refurbish them, and hang then on our newer fleet!"
Cutting Costs Costs Lives!

http://www.mro-network.com/maintenance- ... drop-costs

Southwest Airlines is phasing out its Boeing 737 Classic aircraft by about 2017 and is finding ways to use engine inventory from that fleet to decrease its maintenance costs.

Related: AJW And Engineering Of Russia Set Up Stock Base

Mandy Gower, Southwest Airlines’ powerplant supply chain manager, told Aviation Week that the airline employs MTU Canada and BP Aerospace in Irvine, Calif., to tear down its CFMI CFM56-3s that power the Classics. The airline just took the next step and selected Avioserv San Diego to consign the material. Avioserv, a company that specializes in the supply and sale of serviceable engines, will be Southwest’s sole consignment partner to feed used serviceable material back to the airline to decrease CFM56-3 engine overhaul costs. Several parts on the -3, which power Southwest’s 737-300/-400/-500 aircraft, are interchangeable with the CFMI CFM56-7, the engine on the 737-700. Avioserv also will market the excess engine inventory.

Guess I'll scratch off Southwest Airlines from now on.

My buddy who flies 737 sleds for a competing airlines just sent this as a reply to my email about this incident:

Yep, they've been having an inordinately high number of engine issues. Word on the street is when they have an issue that less catastrophic, rather than report it as per regulations, they simply change out the engine without reporting.

GE and Boeing recommend a 3 minute warmup and cool down period. Meaning 3 minutes from start to takeoff thrust and 3 minutes from high power setting of reverse (landing) to shutdown on taxi to gate. At least in the past, SWA never seemed to follow that guideline. It's pretty important for the life of the engine.

Also, ever wonder why SWA doesn't go to Hawaii? It's because Thank God the FAA mandates very strict and lengthy engine monitoring and proof of reliability programs before permitting it. SWA has had some serious 'documentation' issues in the not so distant past.

It's just their business model. Anyway, it doesn't really surprise me all that much, just a horrific tragedy for the poor fatality and their family as well as the trauma to all the other pax. Of course, I can't say too much, my company killed everyone on board trying to save money on tail jackscrew grease and inspections.

I quit flying Southwest because of the cattle car boarding procedures.
Rather have an assigned seat. Didn't know they were also unsafe.

I ordered a sandwich with cheese, they gave me one without.
I called the stewardess, she got me one with cheese.
Then later said she needed the sandwich back, that I could only pick the cheese off or they would have to charge me for two. WTF!
We came to an agreement that I could put both the meat and cheese on my existing sandwich and she could have the bread back.

Cheap ass fuckers!

I miss the days when you could stuff your pockets with little liquor bottles and stuff them in the barf bag pocket.
Instead of waiting an hour for the cart to roll down the aisle.

Right? LOL!!!! Remember "Smoking" and "Non-smoking" sections? Same damned air source. LOL!


I had booked a flight using my last air miles from SW for a nephew wedding in July this year (MN)
Just canceled.
I re-booked with my favorite airlines, Alaska.
F*ck that cheap ass Southworst.

Early 80's I was on a MAC flight from Korea to Hawaii, windshield broke and we turned back.
Gave us tickets for a commercial flight. Korea-Hawaii-SF

Airline security in Hawaii told me I couldn't bring my brass belt buckle because it looked like a gun. Had to check it.
I asked about the pocket aerial flare I had on me.
She said 'Sure, why couldn't you bring that on a plane?'
Like I was stupid for even thinking that it could be prohibited.

Same idiots that were incorporated into TSA.

Okkk..................

https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/13/us/l ... crash.html

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/n ... servicing/

Don't mistake me here, but I have serious issues with one of the high muckety mucks of Alaska. He won't be in my office again with his personal plane.

I don't particularly like SW either, but have good friends that drive them, as well as several other airlines that pilots come to me with their personal planes.

But I still fly both.

And don't fly anything with the kapasin 38 engine they just fall right out of the sky

Yeah, we lost a fremily member on that flight back then. :(

Alaska completely re-wrote their maintenance books AND who they used for maintenance after that tragedy.

It wasn't long after that that Alaska retired all of the McDonald Douglas MD80s.

Im more curious to know where the hell SWA is able to even get a plane from the gate to the take off or from landing to the gate in less than 3 minutes. Dont think ive ever managed to have that happen with the taxiing

I thought it was illegal to take used parts off one plane and put them on another.

Yeah, I'll take the seat by the window right in line with the turbine.

We did that once on Reno Air.
Looked out the window on an MD 80 and saw the engine right outside the window.
Read about one blowing up and killing passengers a few days later.

At 550 kts, I'll bet the window that blew out was about 10 feet behind alignment with cowling.