it s obviously a very disturbing trend. now we have airplanes cracking in places we never expected. they realize that age and repeated take-offs and landings could cause metal fatigue. it means we ve learned something new and that a whole other type of inspection or a total new inspection regime may be required. reporter: pilots check planes before every flight but it s up to mechanics to look for even the tiniest of cracks. they can be detected visually at one-quarter inch but even smaller at one-tenth of an inch with specialized equipment, including what s called eddy current technology, it sends a electrical current through the metal, picking up irregularities. planes can be flown for 25 years but what really matters are the number of takeoffs and landings. and southwest planes get a big workout. still, the southwest jet was considered middle aged, when the roof blew at 34,000 feet,
the cancellation with flights for the purpose of inspection? southwest is going through 79 planes, these are planes that have not had their skin replaced. that is a normal process, you go through and replace the skin through cycles and landings or take offs. the ntsb says boeing airline s worldwi worldwide, cracks were found in two of the planes and 19 of the 79 taken out of service have been found to have no cracks and are back in service. over the weekend total of some where in the naebd of 600 to 700 flights were cancelled. that created travel headaches for thousands of passengers. southwest said it needs to be
good question. i believe it was routine. we ll check on that as well. they didn t find any major issues or they would have averted the situation. it s not the age of the plane being 15 as much as the number of take offs and landings. southwest obviously does a lot of those. coming up at the half hour we ll have more on the story with jim tillman talking about the quick action the pilots took to prevent a potential catastrophe. two big developments in japan. tokyo electric power released the picture you re about to see showing radioactive water spewing into the pacific ocean through a crack at the fukushima plant. also, two workers died in the march 11 tsunami. charles hadlock is live in tokyo. a good sunday morning to you. what s the status on the crew stopping the radioactive water from gushing into the ocean? reporter: engineers are struggling to control the flow
reliable and that has been basically a beacon to the rest of the industry. gregg: it has been said southwest flies their planes more hours than any other airline, is that a myth? well, it is a myth in the sense that they ll say, for example they fly their planes 10.1 hours a day and united flies theirs even more but what it means is, you are allowed x number of hours and landings and take offs before it goes into maintenance, like change your oil every 3 percent miles and if you drive 3,000 miles in a month you change it and in a year you in chicago change it then. gregg: taking off and landing causes structural stress on any aircraft. does southwest have a more frequent cycle of take offs and landings for the planes? they are probably the highest, 5.6 landings and take offs per day per plane. but that means they go into maintenance more often because they use up their cycles, so
flights out of there either. take a look although the right. it s a snowy atlanta. it s a long time since we ve seen snow in atlanta. it s coming down a tad bitd, and look at the radar right here. blizzard conditions are predicted in much of the northeast. it s slow going because of that snow. whether you re going by car or air or railway, bonnie schneider will join us to talk more about that and what to expect. new york s laguardia airport. landings are all but shut down as well as take-offs. a lot of people are hoping to catch a flight. some concessions are made for them. many have to stick around overnight. we heard from lanl chernoff last hour who said cots are being brought out so some could be more comfortable than sleeping on the ground. we understand that from new jersey, newark, and even not far from laguardia at jfk, flights