Originally Posted by
ManaAdaSystem
Sorry, took a while to get hold of my SAS man.
LN-RPK. 737-700 with winglets. Has been with SAS since new. 19 years old.
SE-RET. 737-700 without winglets. Joined SAS in 2012. Previously with Virgin Blue/Virgin Australia reg VH-VBM. 17 years old.
Thank you for the follow up.
So it looks we're seeing the cracking problem manifest itself in some aircraft built before 2004 but right across the whole NG range (-600, -700, -800 and -900), and both with winglets and without.
This may simply be a coincidence but Boeing moved the Commercial Airplanes - Fabrication Division's complex machining from their Auburn, Washington plant to their Portland, Oregon facility between April 2003 and January 2005. Among the parts packages that were transitioned from Auburn to Portland were pickle forks. The move gets mentioned in a Boeing Frontiers article. It's probably unrelated but you never know.