Air Alaska Inspects All 737-400s

Two of the carrier’s 40 737s have experienced wing-flap malfunction this past month, causing three emergency landings. The airline is now inspecting all the planes for possible wing-flap problems. Inspections won’t ground the planes and were estimated to take two week to complete. The average age of Alaska's fleet of 40 737-400s is 12-and-a-half years old. According to the airline, all three emergency landings were in Alaska and were caused by wear on the hardware of a door that covered the area of the wing that houses the flaps. The flaps, which are designed to slow the plane before and during landing, only partially extended; 30 degrees less than they should have.