Bond - SWA isn't pointing the finger at anyone else - the point that I'm making is that Oberstar is planning on holding hearings into the FAA and their relationship with airlines. That isn't SWA's thing, it's Oberstar's, so I wouldn't be hoping for hearings if I worked for any airline.

Apparently from the info I've seen so far, SWA self disclosed the problem (nobody has come out yet to say if it was a clerical error that didn't properly document inspections that had actually occurred), and both the FAA and Boeing were satisfied with the inspections being accomplished over the next 10 days.

Even in high-profile incidences such as landing gear problems and exploding engines, airlines don't ground their fleets - they inspect them ASAP, but don't normally ground them. To say that the aircraft were unsafe is not accurate, but to say SWA screwed up is definitely true, particular in light of the bad PR that this has generated.

In addition, I wouldn't put too much faith into the journalism of any television network on matters of aviation. This entire thing has absolutely nothing to do with rudders.