Many passengers say they agree with the FAA's decision to ground some Boeing 737s. The mandatory inspections look closely at aging aircrafts

From CNN Correspondent Jonathan Karl

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded some Boeing 737 jetliners -- one of the most widely used commercial airplanes in the world -- and ordered more mandatory inspections. It's a costly project, but for the airlines it's the price of consumer confidence.

"The most expensive decision an airline could make would be to cut safety corners because the cost in terms of the people who fly and have confidence in that airline far outweighs any cutting of corners on safety," said former FAA official Michael Goldfarb.

For passengers, stepping on an airplane is an act of faith. The FAA's move is an effort to show that faith is not misguided.

"I can assure you that those airplanes affected by this air worthiness directive with 50,000 hours or more on them will not fly in revenue service until those inspections are completed," said Tom McSweeny, the FAA's director of aircraft certification.

The FAA's order draws attention to the industry's reliance on aging airplanes. According to a recent government report, by the year 2000, an estimated 2,500 commercial aircraft will be flying longer than they were designed to.

"The key element here is we're also looking at aging airplanes," said David Stempler of the Air Travelers Association. "The first and most serious problems have been with airplanes of 25 years or greater age."

In Los Angeles, many passengers applauded the FAA's move:

"If they are grounding them they are obviously doing something about it, and that's a good thing," one traveler commented, while another said that the FAA's quick move was "good enough for me."

The majority of air crashes have nothing to do with mechanical failure. They're caused when the flight crew makes a mistake, and even that is rare: In the U.S. today, there is less than one fatal crash per 3 million commercial take-offs, making air travel safer than it's ever been.

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Related sites:

• Federal Aviation Administration
• Air Travelers Association

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