"Keep your seatbelt fastened during the flight....and ignore the smoke coming from the cargo hold"

[marmar]

from AP, via Yahoo!:




United grounds 777s for inspections
21 minutes ago



CHICAGO - United Airlines temporarily grounded 11 percent of its fleet Wednesday, while it tested dozens of Boeing 777s to make sure components of a cargo fire suppression system were operating effectively, the carrier said.

The Chicago-based airline said testing will be done on 52 777s during the next 36 hours. Spokeswoman Jean Medina said 12 planes had been inspected and cleared to fly by midmorning.

The carrier has about 460 aircraft.

Delays were being reported in Japan and Hawaii Wednesday morning and the airline warned passengers to be prepared for other delays and cancellations as it proceeded with the inspections.

United, a subsidiary of UAL Corp., said a review of maintenance records showed a test on one of five bottles in the fire suppression system hadn't been performed. The airline alerted authorities.

The planes, which have a so-called "intuitive" self-diagnostic system that would have detected any malfunction with the fire suppression system, mostly fly international routes and from the carrier's major hubs.

United carried out unscheduled maintenance on seven of its Boeing 747 jets last month but found no safety-related issues.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been checking maintenance records at all domestic airlines after revelations surfaced about missed safety inspections at Southwest Airlines Co.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080402/ap_on_bi_ge/united777s

[DJ13]

1. The rash of sudden "inspections" are starting to remind me of....

.......the oil refiners who always manage to need unexpected "maintanence" on their equipment just as the price of gasoline has stabilized and looks to be headed lower.

Not saying these arent real inspections, but the diverse types of planes involved leads me to question what is behind this.

[marmar]

2. Interesting take on it.....

.... but then again it could just mean that Federal inspections have been so piss-poor under Bush that all kinds of crap has gone unreported.

[Turbineguy]

3. From Red Dwarf

"Fasten your Belt!"

"I don't need fashion advice from you!!"