[Daquan13]

Southwest Airlines has pulled some of their planes out of service after the FAA has slapped a $10M fine on them for not keeping the planes up to snuff and neglecting to perform regular checks on them.

The 737s in question were pulled from service after inspections on them have revealed cracks in their fuselage skin. The grounding of these planes has caused some delays and cancelations of flights, Southwest said.

The airline also claims that none of the passengers were ever in any danger.

[SnyderBock]

CNN reported that the FAA requires these inspections, because a past failure of these parts resulted in a fatality accident. So micro-fractures in parts that have cause fatal crashes were discovered on these plans and SW had not properly inspected them according to FAA guidelines - thus the FAA has fined SW a significant, $10 million.

It's good to know that passengers where never in any danger!

[Daquan13]

A few of the airframe mechs. were severely disiplined for that.

It just came out on the Today Show.