FAA Wants Inspections of All 160 747s in U.S. Fleets

The Federal Aviation Administration proposed today an extensive inspection of all 160 Boeing 747 jumbo jets on U.S. airlines after cracks were found in the nose section that could lead to disastrous decompression.

“There is no immediate danger, but there could be in the future,” FAA spokesman Fred Farrar said.

Under the FAA procedure, a proposed rule is being issued. Airlines will have until Aug. 22 to comment upon it, then a final order will be issued.

The proposed FAA order will affect only U.S. carriers, but the notice will go to foreign airlines as an advisory.

“This action is prompted by a recent finding of numerous body frame structure cracks in the nose of the fuselage,” the FAA said. “Failure of the structure could lead to sudden decompression.”

The 747s have had problems in the past.

The FAA ordered U.S. airliners to modify the tail assembly of the 747s in April to avoid a repeat of the 1985 Japan Air Lines jumbo jet crash that killed 520 people.

The order required airlines to seal off a small opening leading to the vertical tail section that Boeing and Japanese officials said was to blame for the JAL crash last August.

The U.S. air safety agency ordered inspection of all the jumbo jets in February because of reported cracking of the frames that could lead to a failure of the planes in flight.

In the latest proposal, the FAA said it would take about 800 man-hours for airline companies to carry out the inspection on each plane at an average hourly labor cost of $40. Based on these estimates, the FAA said it would cost about $5.1 million to carry out the inspections.