WASHINGTON – The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it would fine Southwest Airlines Co. $10.2 million for safety violations that included knowingly flying more than three dozen jets without mandatory inspections for structural damage.

The fine would be the largest ever levied against an airline, the FAA said.

When Southwest belatedly conducted the inspections, it found cracks in the bodies of six Boeing 737-300s, with the largest measuring 4 inches. Serious fractures can depressurize an aircraft and in 1988 caused an Aloha Airlines jet to rip apart, killing a flight attendant.

The FAA announced the fine a week before congressional investigators were to disclose findings from their own inquiry into Southwest's failure to meet airworthiness directives. That investigation was prompted by information provided by Dallas-based FAA inspectors who said their supervisors allowed the planes to keep flying even after Southwest reported its failure to make the scheduled inspections.

"That decision could have jeopardized people's lives," said G. Frederick Mirgle, chairman of the department of aviation maintenance science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He noted that Southwest has never had a passenger fatality from an accident. "That does not negate the fact that this could have created one."

Dallas-based Southwest said it would challenge the fine and noted the carrier "blew the whistle" on itself in mid-March 2007, after realizing that some of its jets hadn't been checked for fuselage damage.

Beth Harbin, a Southwest spokeswoman, suggested the airline didn't overlook any obvious flaws and never jeopardized safety.

"It's not like walking up to somebody's house and seeing a crack in the wall," Ms. Harbin said. "These are very tiny cracks that you absolutely have to know what you are looking for, and we did. We found them and repaired them."

Under FAA regulations, airlines police some aspects of safety themselves, an approach that is supposed to result in more information being shared with regulators. FAA inspectors are asked to look for wider problems by analyzing data reported by the carriers and following up on the most serious safety risks.

But Linda Goodrich, a regional vice president for the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said the Southwest episode points out a failing with the FAA's "partnership" approach to safety.

Too many FAA supervisors have grown cozy with airline managers, Ms. Goodrich said. Inspectors are second-guessed if they highlight a costly problem that airlines don't want to address, she said.

"We are depending way too much on the airlines, and there are not enough checks and balances in place," said Ms. Goodrich, whose union represents FAA inspectors. "The few inspectors we do have are being trumped by management, who would rather abuse the processes that are in place."

The FAA didn't address why its field staff didn't immediately ground Southwest's jets after the carrier reported the violations on March 15, 2007. A supervisor who permitted the flights was removed from his position, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.

At least one FAA maintenance inspector assigned to monitor some of Southwest's fleet later complained about the way the FAA handled the problem.

The inspector, Bobby Boutris of Bedford, was subsequently investigated by the FAA for a complaint that resulted from an anonymous letter to Southwest Airlines, according to Ms. Harbin. The airline turned the letter over to the FAA.

Mr. Boutris is expected to testify at an April 3 hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The hearing will detail the committee's investigation as well as the FAA's oversight program. Mr. Boutris declined to comment Thursday.

Mr. Boutris was removed from duty as he was investigated last year, according to Frank Gentile, an official with Mr. Boutris' union in Fort Worth. Mr. Gentile said the investigation was retaliatory for pushing the issue of how FAA managers dealt with Southwest.

"He was the inspector and found the issues with Southwest Airlines and went to report it to his appropriate supervisor," Mr. Gentile said. "He was told to back off."

The U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general is conducting a separate audit of how the FAA handled the whistleblower allegations.

The FAA's investigation of Southwest appears to have restarted after Mr. Boutris lodged his whistleblower complaint with federal investigators. The FAA closed an initial inquiry into Southwest's violations April 10, 2007, but opened a new investigation on Nov. 2, according to an official familiar with the inquiry.

The $10.2 million penalty announced Thursday represents two separate findings by the agency. The airline was fined $200,000 for missing the deadline – every 4,500 flights – to inspect 46 jets for fatigue cracks. During that time, when the airline wasn't aware it missed the inspections, those jets flew 59,751 flights, the FAA said.

The FAA recommended a larger penalty, $10 million, for 1,451 flights by 38 jets that were operated after the airline knew the planes had to be checked.

Ms. Harbin said the airline contacted Boeing about its plan to inspect the jets after reporting its error to the FAA. The manufacturer concluded that Southwest had 10 days to inspect the jets. The airline finished the inspections in eight days.

"In Boeing's opinion, the safety of the Southwest fleet was not compromised," Ms. Harbin said.

Robert Sturgell, the FAA's acting administrator, defended the agency's partnership program at a congressional subcommittee hearing Thursday.

"I know there are individual cases where there are lapses," Mr. Sturgell said. "I don't think that should affect the overall benefit we get from these programs."

After the hearing, Mr. Sturgell called the allegations against Southwest a "very serious issue."

"We are always concerned about the safety of the system and about whether aircraft were operated in an airworthy manner or not," Mr. Sturgell said.

A 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office found that the FAA didn't evaluate whether its partnership programs were successful in reducing safety violations. The report said the FAA generally took administrative actions against carriers rather than fining them.

The aircraft involved are Boeing 737-300 jets, a model that makes up 194 of Southwest's fleet of 523 Boeing 737s. Southwest was the launch customer for the Boeing 737-300.

The oldest of the Boeing 737s was manufactured in late 1984 and put into service by Southwest in early 1985. The rest were built between 1985 and 1987 for Southwest and other carriers.

As of Dec. 31, the average age of Southwest's fleet of Boeing 737-300s was 16.7 years, the same as its smaller fleet of 25 Boeing 737-500s, a 122-seat model. Its fleet of Boeing 737-700 jets, which first entered Southwest's fleet in early 1998, had an average age of 4.2 years.

The airline has 30 days to either pay the FAA's fines or appeal.

Staff writer Terry Maxon in Dallas contributed to this report.

Source: DallasNews.com