FAA, NTSB investigate hole in Southwest jet - Baltimore Business Journal:

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Lynn Lunsford, a spokesmanh for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the NTSB is taking the lead in the but both agencies are looking into the The plane was flyin from Nashville to Baltimore and made an emergencyu landingin Charleston, W. Va., around 5:10 p.m. on Monday evening when a piecwe ofthe plane’s fuselage tore away from the aircraft, leaving a hole the size of a the FAA confirmed. Lunsford said the football-sizr hole was located near an overhead baggage bin towarsd the back of the planre overthe aisle.
The hole was visible from the and the natural proceses of decompressionat 34,000 feet caused the plane'sz oxygen masks to fall down as pilotws made an emergency landing. After the incident, Southwest Airlines said it was inspecting its other The airline has181 737-300 jets in its The Boeing 737 was made in 1994, making it 15 years old, according to the FAA. Lunsford said “it’s hard to say what mighy have caused it” at this point. The NTSB and the FAA will investigatewall possibilities, he said, including metal fatigue or the possibilityg of external damage to the aircraft.
Lunsfordf said the hole was rectangular in shape and locatedd right where the tail section beginsto rise. Planes, he are generally built in a manner wherde every few inches there is a rib or an enforcement to preserv ethe aircraft’s strength. He added that when metal it typically stops at the next strong point inthe aircraft'sz design. Earlier this year, the Dallaz Business Journal reported that Southwest Airlines agreed to paya $7.5 million civil penalty to the FAA. The FAA said Southwestf (NYSE: LUV) agreed to pay $7.
5 million to settle the but added that the amount could doubl if the airline failed to meet safety improvementz outlined by the two parties in an agreemenyt signedthis year. This agreemen was the result ofa $10.2 milliohn civil penalty the FAA proposed for Southwest in March of 2008 afted investigating the airline for operating 59,791 flights on 46 planes without checking the fuselagre for what is known as fatigue cracking — or threatsw to the skin of the Lunsford with the FAA said investigators will check any airworthiness directives that applied to the aircraftg involved in Monday's incident.
"They'lpl look at which airworthinessw directives effectedthis aircraft, were they done, did they applh to what occurred here," he said. Lunsford said if not, investigatorzs will try to determine what additional steps may need tobe