Haven't read the entire thread...so it might have already been said....but I agree with the couple posts about the 9....completely different philosophy on aircraft design...
Main problem is...each airline deals with aircraft "fatigue" in different ways...depends on the airlines "authority" and "recommended" practices from the manufacturer.....This is a slippery slope.
Airline A could check the structural integrity of the 737 every 5000 hours and Airline B could do the same check every 20,000 hours and it's all legal....
It's only when the sunroof occurs....that the "authority" decides that we must look into the fatigue issue....
As far as I know....Southwest with about 80 aircraft and Alaska with about 2 where the only two airlines in the USA that needed to have their aircraft inspected and were grounded till inspected....I could be wrong, but that is what I have read...
That being said, what else is Southwest or Alaska not doing that the other airlines in the USA or Worldwide are?? Not pointing fingers, and not saying they did anything illegal....I do not think they did anything wrong, they just went by Boeing and their FSDO's rules...
So the question is....what happens with the rest of the operators of the 737's around the world???
Last, I miss the Douglas products.....what great machines!!!!
