Boeing has advised operators of older 737 ‘classics’ to check them for signs of stress and fatigue, in light of the recent Southwest Airlines incident where a hole opened up in the upper fuselage of one of the airline’s 737-300s.
The manufacturer said it was preparing a service bulletin for fuselage inspections, as the US Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it would require inspections of 175 older model 737-300/400/500s which have flown over 30,000 cycles. Included in that number are four older Qantas 737-400s. A Qantas spokeswoman told AAP that the airline will inspect the aircraft over the next 10 days.
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