So Southwest grounded 41 planes after admitting that it missed required inspections of some planes for structural cracks. Southwest puts three employees on leave. As a result of the missed inspections and safety violations, the Federal Aviation Adminstration fines the Houston company a $10.2 million civil penalty for continuing to fly nearly 50 planes after the airline admits to this very serious infraction. And now, Southwest says it will appeal the decision.
I understand they don't want to pay such a huge fine, but am I missing something here? The airline flew a lot of planes they shouldn't have, yes? They put a lot of flyers in possible danger, yes? They've owned up to the violation, yes? So shouldn't they suck it up and pay the fine?
This is not to say that I'm placing all the blame on Southwest. The FAA needs to be spanked hard, too, for not listening to inspectors who warned them about the safety checks three years ago. I also give CEO Gary Kelly for moving on this quickly when he discovered that there was a probe into the issue.
I figure Southwest should consider themselves lucky. Isn't a $10.2 million fine better to deal with than planes dropping out of the sky with hundreds of passengers on board each?
Way to instill confidence there, Southwest.
(Sun Photographer Chiaki Kawajiri)
