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On April 26, 2010, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety regulators ordered speedy inspections to prevent potentially dangerous vibrations affecting certain flight-control surfaces on the tails of some of the latest Boeing 737 models, according to a Wall Street Journal article.

The safety directive scheduled to be issued by the Federal Aviation Administration requires inspections of mechanisms that help control part of the elevators on about 125 U.S. registered Boeing 737s. Elevators are movable panels located on the horizontal tails of aircraft, which help control a plane’s up and down pitch.

Reflecting the level of concern by the FAA and manufacturer Boeing Co., some of the inspections must be completed within six days. Based on various factors including the age of the plane, other inspections must be finished between 12 and 30 days The decision to enhance and expand inspections comes after an initial round of federally-mandated emergency checks in March proved inadequate, according to the FAA. Following the first round of inspections, one Boeing 737 suffered severe elevator vibrations and was forced to return to the airport from which it departed. The plane, which landed safely, had been inspected as required under the earlier safety directive. The FAA didn’t identify the airline.

The latest inspections are targeted partly at aircraft flying long-range routes over water, which makes such malfunctions particularly dangerous because planes can be cruising two hours or more from the nearest emergency landing strip.

Excessive vibration may cause “structural failure of the elevator or horizontal stabilizer” to which it is attached, and also “could result in loss of structural integrity and aircraft control,” according to the FAA directive posted on the Federal Register’s Web site.

On December 22, 2009, American Airline officials stated that flight 331 took off from Miami International Airport just before 9 p.m. As the pilot brought the jet in for a landing around 10:30 p.m. in a heavy thunderstorm, the plane skidded on the rain soaked tarmac and overshot the runway. Two people remain hospitalized after an American Airlines flight from Miami skidded off the runway as the pilot attempted to land at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica.

American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said during the morning of December 23, 2009, that both of the plane’s engines broke off the wings as designed to do for safety reasons. Smith said the impact also damaged the Boeing 737-800’s land gear and caused two cracks in the fuselage.

Of the 148 passengers, 44 people were taken to area hospitals for injuries, four with serious injuries. Two of the injured passengers were from Miami. The plane’s crew of six also was transported to hospitals as a precaution. All of the injuries have been described as non-life threatening.

American has activated its family assistance CARE Teams to immediately help those affected by this incident.

“The care of our passengers and crew members remains our highest priority, and we are grateful for the professionalism of our crew members who safely evacuated the aircraft,” said Gerard Arpey, Chairman and CEO of American Airlines.

Airline officials will work with the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and Jamaican authorities to determine the cause of the accident.

Anyone who had friends or family on the flight can call the airline at 800-245-0999 for more information.

During the early morning hours of November 14, 2009, investigators said the pilot of a medical helicopter issued a mayday moments before the aircraft crashed into a hilly area north of Reno near the Nevada-California state line. All three crew members, the pilot, flight nurse and paramedic were killed.

The helicopter, an Aerospatiale AS350, had dropped off a patient at a Reno hospital and was returning to its base in Susanville, California, when it crashed around, according to FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.

Gregor said the pilot was not communicating with air traffic controllers at the time of the accident. Investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board spent Saturday combing the wreckage about 29 miles northwest of Reno in Lassen County as they searched for clues about the cause of the crash.

The helicopter was operated by Mountain Lifeflight out of Susanville. The company confirmed the loss of all three crew members aboard the helicopter. It was the second fatal crash of a Mountain Lifeflight helicopter returning to Susanville after dropping off a patient at Renown Medical Center in Reno.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, a Eurocopter AS-350B operated by the company crashed into Honey Lake, about 11 miles southeast of the company’s Susanville base, on March 21, 2002. NTSB investigators determined the pilot failed to maintain altitude and said the smooth surface of the water contributed to pilot disorientation.

The pilot died in the crash and two crew members were seriously injured.