Quote:
Originally Posted by fingpilot
As I remember, there's an antenna mounted there. (or was).
EDIT:
Checked the docs, and nope, no antennas there. Scuttlebutt is the 'rip-stop' design on fuselage skin panels did it's job. Redesign after Aloha, to include no more 'cold-bonded' skin panels.
SWA usually has some of the highest cycle airframes in the industry, and this one will get well looked at.
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From SAE website:
Early Boeing 737's were manufactured using a cold structural adhesive bonding process to attach internal doublers to the fuselage skin and to supplement rivets at the skin lap splices. The doublers carry loads and perform a fail-safe tear-stopping function. Failures of the adhesive bond have been found in some of the cold bonded components jeopardizing the design integrity of the fuselage pressure vessel. This paper examines the problem, service experience, and modifications currently being made to restore structural integrity; and relates these modifications to the other required elements in the current solution to the "Aging Aircraft Problem".