Boeing under scrutiny again after latest 737 Max problem

A harrowing flight last weekend is forcing Boeing to once again confront concerns about its planes, especially the 737 Max, already one of the most scrutinized planes in history.

No one was seriously injured during Friday evening’s delivery of an Alaska Airlines flight in which part of the fuselage of a 737 Max 9 blew out into the air, exposing passengers to howling winds. The plane landed safely, but the event, on a flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, has frightened travelers and prompted immediate safety inspections on similar planes.

Federal authorities drew attention to a door plug in the center of the cabin, which is used to fill the space where an emergency exit would be located if the plane were configured with more seats.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the inspection of 171 Max 9 planes operated by Alaska and other U.S. airlines, canceling dozens of flights on Saturday. It said the inspections would take four to eight hours by plane.

“We agree and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 aircraft with the same configuration as the affected aircraft,” Jessica Kowal, a Boeing spokeswoman, said Saturday.

It is not clear whether Boeing is responsible for what happened, but the episode raises new questions for the manufacturer. Another version of the Max, a 737 Max 8, was involved in two crashes that killed hundreds of people in 2018 and 2019 and led to a global grounding of that plane.

“The problem is what’s going on at Boeing,” said John Goglia, a longtime aviation safety consultant and a retired member of the National Transportation Safety Board who investigates plane crashes.

Last month, the company called on airlines to inspect more than 1,300 delivered Max planes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder control system. Over the summer, Boeing said it was a major supplier there were incorrectly drilled holes in a part that helps maintain cabin pressure. Since then, Boeing has invested in and worked more closely with that supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, to address production issues.

“We are seeing increased stability and quality performance within our own factories, but we are working to bring the supply chain to the same standards,” Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said on a call with investor analysts and reporters in October. .

Spirit AeroSystems also worked on the fuselage of the 737 Max 9, including the fabrication and installation of the door plug that failed during the Alaska Airlines flight.

Deliveries of another Boeing plane, the twin-aisle 787 Dreamliner, were halted for nearly a year, until the summer of 2022, as the planemaker worked with the FAA to address several quality issues, including paper-thin gaps in planes from the plane. body.

Another error discovered last summer caused plane deliveries to be delayed again. And production of both the 737 and 787 is slow to ramp up due to these and other quality and supply chain issues.

The Max was grounded in early 2019 after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed a total of 346 people. For 20 months, Boeing worked with regulators around the world to resolve problems with the plane’s flight control software and other components.

By the time passenger flights aboard the Max resumed in late 2020, the crisis had cost the company about $20 billion.

The aircraft’s two mid-size variants, the Max 8 and Max 9, have been flying ever since. But the smallest, the Max 7, and the largest, the Max 10, still need to be approved by regulators.

The Max is the best-selling aircraft in Boeing history. The more than 4,500 outstanding orders for the aircraft account for more than 76 percent of Boeing’s order book. The plane is also popular among airlines: Of the nearly three million flights scheduled worldwide this month, about 5 percent will be operated with a Max, mostly the Max 8, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider.

Alaska Airlines has 65 Max 9 aircraft, while United Airlines has 79. Both conducted inspections on Saturday.

Turkish Airlines announced this on Sunday immediately on the ground the five Max 9 aircraft in its fleet until further notice.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have begun looking into the matter and are expected to look into a wide range of factors. To start, they are expected to look at radar and other data to find the blown-out portion of the plane. They are also expected to investigate what work Boeing or Alaska Airlines performed on the plane.

“This is the kind of thing where until you really get into the investigation – you identify all the facts, circumstances and circumstances of this particular event – ​​you determine whether this is just a one-time problem or a systemic problem,” Greg said. Feith, an aviation security expert and former NTSB investigator.

In the meantime, those who make, maintain, operate and regulate the planes will all be in the spotlight.

“Every American deserves a full explanation from Boeing and the FAA about what went wrong and the steps being taken to ensure there is not another incident in the future,” said Senator JD Vance, Republican of Ohio, in a post on Saturday. on X.

Mark Walker And Safak Timur reporting contributed.