Qantas has officially confirmed that the airline is prematurely checking 33 Boeing 737 NG aircraft for cracks in the suspension system, nicknamed pickle forks, which connects fuselage with wings. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) for all Boeing 737 NG aircraft on October 3, 2019. A week later, reports emerged that over 30 aircraft around the world, including 737s in Southwest Airlines and GOL Linhas Aéreas’ fleets, were affected by pickle fork cracks so far.
