American Airlines has begun going through an exhaustive process of checking the entire hull of their Boeing 737’s for scratches. They have already reported that they did discover a few small scratches that could have some small potential for being dangerous. The scratches have been repaired. They were most likely caused by a bolt on a jet bridge, but there are also other possibilities.

A spokesman for American Airlines said “We should probably be done inspecting the airplanes in the next couple of days,” The massive airline has about 80 Boeing 737’s and proper, thorough inspections do take time. Tim Wagner from the airline went on to say “We have found three that needed to be taken out of service to have repairs done,” Wagner said. “We found a few others that have more minor scratches that are within the tolerance. We’d either be able to do the work right there or wait until scheduled maintenance.”

American is also performing thorough inspections of their jet bridges, because it is believed that at least has a bolt sticking out that could have caused scratches on airplanes. Small imperfections like this have the possibility of playing a role in situations in the air that could become dangerous.