Aviation: Fear of Flying

Alarms about the airworthiness of aging U.S. airliners, which erupted after part of the roof of a 19-year-old Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 peeled off in midflight last April, sounded again last week. Eastern Flight 251, bound from Rochester to Atlanta, was forced into a terrifying emergency dive, plunging 21,000 ft. in just one minute after a sudden rupture tore a 14-in. hole in the fuselage, depressurizing the cabin. Though the rapid descent caused some of the passengers excruciating ear pain, no one was seriously injured, and the 22-year-old Boeing 727 landed safely in Charleston, W. Va.

A quick inspection of Eastern's fleet of 111 older 727s turned up some disquieting results. One 24-year-old Eastern jetliner was grounded in Boston after the airline's mechanics discovered a 3-in. crack in roughly the same area as the one on Flight 251. And apparent corrosion near some rivets on its fuselage grounded another 727 in Miami. The plane involved in last week's incident had had seven other unscheduled landings since 1983, and recent safety inspections had uncovered two structural cracks.

As part of a special investigation earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration inspected every aircraft in Eastern's fleet and deemed the airline safe. But Flight 251's harrowing ride rekindled suspicions that metal fatigue induced by changes in cabin pressure during thousands of takeoffs and landings have decreased the margin of safety in commercial aviation. Although older jetliners have been subject to special inspections since 1983, the FAA responded to the Aloha accident by ordering airlines to replace the rivets on 737s built before 1971. Last week the agency announced that a similar order for aging 727s would be issued in January.