FAA Agrees to Let Southwest Airlines Use Planes That Missed Inspection

Southwest Airlines can keep flying - for now. The FAA says the low-cost airline can keep flying planes that missed an inspection of a backup rudder system, if the planes are checked in the next five days. Southwest grounded 128 planes -- about one-fifth of its fleet -- on Tuesday after discovering the missed inspections. The airline canceled about 80 flights Tuesday and expects to cancel up to 19 more on Wednesday while some inspections are done, and it expects to finish 'a good portion' of the inspections by Wednesday morning. The missed inspections involve hydraulic systems used to control the rudder if the main system fails.