KUALA LUMPUR – The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered a thorough inspection and maintenance process on each of the 171 grounded Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft before they are allowed to return to service.
Boeing will also not be granted any production expansion of the MAX, including the 737-9 MAX, the regulator added, on top of the investigation and ramped up oversight of the planemaker and its suppliers.
“We grounded the Boeing 737-9 MAX within hours of the incident over Portland and made clear this aircraft would not go back into service until it was safe,” FAA administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement.
“Let me be clear: This won’t be back to business as usual for Boeing. We will not agree to any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 MAX until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved.
“The quality assurance issues we have seen are unacceptable,” said Whitaker.
“That is why we will have more boots on the ground, closely scrutinising and monitoring production and manufacturing activities.”
The FAA approved this detailed set of inspection and maintenance instructions after a thorough review of data from 40 inspections of grounded planes. The FAA also convened a Corrective Action Review Board, which is made up of safety experts and has scrutinised and approved the inspection and maintenance processes.
Following the completion of the enhanced maintenance and inspection process on each aircraft, the door plugs on the 737-9 MAX will be in compliance with the original design, which is safe to operate. This aircraft will not operate until the process is complete and compliance with the original design is confirmed.
The enhanced maintenance process will require an inspection of specific bolts, guide tracks, and fittings, detailed visual inspections of left and right mid-cabin exit door plugs and dozens of associated components, retorquing fasteners, and correcting any damage or abnormal conditions.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, where a door plug flew off mid-flight, continues.
In early 2023, the FAA convened 24 experts to review Boeing’s safety management processes and the results will also inform the agency of future action.
The review panel included representatives from Nasa, the FAA, labour unions, independent engineering experts, air carriers, manufacturers with delegated authority, legal experts and others.
The panel has been reviewing thousands of documents, interviewing more than 250 Boeing employees, managers, and executives, supplier employees, and FAA employees, and visiting several Boeing sites as well as Spirit AeroSystems’ facility in Wichita. – January 25, 2024
