off its fuselage. we ll be looking at the other events to see what we learned and if the correct solutions from those events if they did not work, why they didn t work. reporter: investigators say they expect to spend several days here in yuma combing over the aircraft. they ve seen the data recorders and a piece of the fuselage to washington to analyze there. they have sent another team to investigators to southwest s headquarters in texas to go over all the maintenance records of this aircraft. in 2008, southwest was penalized by the faa for not keeping up with mandatory inspections for skin cracking in their planes. in that case, southwest discovered its own error and reported itself to the faa. after the latest incident, southwest elected to ground 79 of its 737s to check them for cracking. an effort the company says to make sure their passengers are safe.
the middle of your screen right there? we ll the details in a few minutes. plus how about that for a saturday night? the business of pro wrestling. you may think it s a joke but they are throwing down all the way to the bank and it s mega millions. guess what? the reviews are in on charlie sheen s first concert in detroit. winning doesn t even come close. i m don lemon. at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. the cnn newsroom starts right now. we begin tonight with a scary white-knuckle flight aboard southwest airlines. the plane s flight data recorders are now in washington, where federal investigators will search for clues into friday s terrifying mishap over arizona. the boeing 737 was at 36,000 feet en route to sacramento when a four-foot hole suddenly opened in the fuselage. part of southwest s fleet is now grounded. reporter: the plane is sitting in yuma, arizona, as
ted rolands, cnn, yuma, arizona. southwest s entire fleet is made up of various models of the boeing 737. all told, the airline has 558 of them. the fleet has an average age of just over 11 years. each aircraft flies an average of six flights per day. that s just under 11 hours each day. southwest is awaiting government approval to buy air tran airways. as ted rowlands mentioned, the worst accident was this type was 23 years ago over hawaii. a flight attendant died and many people were hurt. tomorrow night, we will speak with one of the passengers on that flight. ucla professor emeritus eric beckland. another close call in the air today. an atlantic southeast airlines jet, a delta regional partner, was forced to make an emergency landing in little rock, arkansas, after striking a flock of birds. you can see the damage to the plane s nose and around the engine. the 49 passengers and crew members were shaken but nobody was hurt.
ted rolands, cnn, yuma, arizona. southwest s entire fleet is made up of various models of the boeing 737. all told, the airline has 558 of them. the fleet has an average age of just over 11 years. each aircraft flies an average of six flights per day. that s just under 11 hours each day. southwest is awaiting government approval to buy air tran airways. as ted rowlands mentioned, the worst accident was this type was 23 years ago over hawaii. a flight attendant died and many people were hurt. tomorrow night, we will speak with one of the passengers on that flight. ucla professor emeritus eric beckland. another close call in the air today. an atlantic southeast airlines jet, a delta regional partner, was forced to make an emergency landing in little rock, arkansas, after striking a flock of birds. you can see the damage to the plane s nose and around the engine. the 49 passengers and crew members were shaken but nobody was hurt.
was an 18-foot piece was blown off its fuselage. we ll be looking at the other events to see what we learned and if the correct solutions from those events if they did not work, why they didn t work. reporter: investigators say they expect to spend several days here in yuma combing over the aircraft. they ve seen the data recorders and a piece of the fuselage to washington to analyze there. they have sent another team to investigators to southwest s headquarters in texas to go over all the maintenance records of this aircraft. in 2008, southwest was penalized by the faa for not keeping up with mandatory inspections for skin cracking in their planes. in that case, southwest discovered its own error and reported itself to the faa. after the latest incident, southwest elected to ground 79 of its 737s to check them for cracking. an effort the company says to make sure their passengers are safe.