Northwest Airlines Grounds 27 Planes

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Saint Paul, MN (AP) -- Northwest Airlines grounded 27 planes Friday after a company audit showed noncompliance with a directive related to landing gear.

Flights on the Boeing 757s were canceled, with about 2,600 passengers affected.

The Federal Aviation Administration's directive focused on a linchpin in the aircrafts' landing gear.

But Northwest says passengers were never in danger.

Northwest spokeswoman Tammy Lee Stanoch says the problem was fixed on the planes Friday evening.

By 10:40 p.m., the FAA had cleared Northwest to begin using the planes again.

Besides putting up some of the affected passengers in hotel rooms, Northwest worked with its new parent company, Delta Air Lines, to find other aircraft to accommodate passengers.

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