Ministry orders inspections of 23 Boeing 737s

Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry has ordered four local airlines to conduct “tight” inspections on 23 Boeing 737 series units following the recent roof accident on a US Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 airplane.

“The aviation authority is asking the airlines to carry out preventive measures by tightly inspecting types of airplanes we have determined,” ministry spokesman Bambang S. Ervan said Tuesday, as quoted by Antara.

He said the inspections were ordered for Boeing 737-300, 737-400 and 737-500 series, adding there were a total of 102 Boeing 737 series airplanes operating in Indonesia.

Bambang further elaborated that the 23 Boeing planes singled out comprised 18 units belonging to national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, two units owned by private airline Batavia Air, two units used by private carrier Sriwijaya Air and one unit by private firm Travira Air.

“The inspections include [identifying] any small cracks, including invisible ones. To check such [invisible] cracks, they can use the high-frequency eddy current equipment,” he said.