Boeing plans ONE DAY work pause for employees to learn and ‘reflect’ on ways to improve quality of 737 fleet as airlines become skittish after door blowout at 16,000 feet

Boeing has announced a one-day ‘Quality Stand Down’ pause at its Seattle factory to evaluate ways to improve production amid safety concerns following the Alaska Airlines door explosion.

The Boeing 737 factory in Renton, Washington will stop production on Thursday and hold workshops focused on quality company announced.

Boeing has taken action to improve quality after an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane narrowly avoided disaster earlier this month when a door plug blew off 16,000 feet in the air.

Sources said The Seattle Times that the fuselage panel that blew the jet was removed for repairs and then improperly reinstalled by mechanics at the Renton factory.

Internal communications with Boeing employees stated: “The first of the withdrawals will take place for the 737 program on Thursday. Production, delivery and support efforts will be halted for a day so that teammates can participate in work sessions focused on quality.”

Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes (pictured), said employees who touch the planes can pause during the session, evaluate what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and make recommendations for improvement.

“During the withdrawal, teammates will engage in hands-on learning, reflection and collaboration to identify where quality and compliance can be improved and create actionable plans that will be followed through to closure.”

Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said the Quality Stand Down session will allow employees who touch the planes to “pause, evaluate what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and make recommendations for improvement.”

The company plans to hold Quality Stand Down sessions at other plants in the coming weeks to encompass all of its aircraft programs.

If the Alaska Airlines door plug were installed at the Renton facility, Boeing would be primarily responsible for the accident, rather than its supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which originally installed the panel on the plane in Wichita, Kansas.

An anonymous whistleblower, who appears to have knowledge of Boeing production data, wrote on the aviation website Leeham News about how the door plug was removed and installed incorrectly.

‘There are four bolts that prevent the center exit plug from sliding up from the door stops that take the actual pressure loads during flight, and these four bolts were not installed when Boeing delivered the aircraft, our own data reflects this. ‘, said the whistleblower.

They said the engineers’ work should have been inspected, but this was not due to a process error and the use of two separate systems to record what work was done.

Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said his company found “some loose bolts on many” Boeing 737 MAX 9s during inspections after the Jan. 5 cabin panel blowout that forced the emergency landing of a new Alaska plane.

On January 5, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 took off from Portland, Oregon en route to California and was forced to make a harrowing emergency landing when the door plug blew out at 16,000 feet.

The FAA grounded most of Boeing’s MAX 9 jets for inspections after the incident.

Alaska Airlines announced on January 8 that initial reports from its engineers indicated that “loose hardware was visible on some 737 MAX 9 aircraft.”

‘I am beyond frustrated and disappointed. I’m angry,” Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci told NBC Nightly News in an interview that aired Tuesday night.

“My question to Boeing is: What are they going to do to improve their quality programs internally?”

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby warned that Boeing needs “real action” to restore its reputation.

Kirby said he is “disappointed” by Boeing’s ongoing production issues and will consider alternatives to purchasing a future, larger version.

“I think this is the final straw – the grounding of the Max 9 – is probably the straw that broke the camel’s back for us,” he told CNBC. “In any case, we are going to build a plan that does not include the Max 10.”

Alaska Airlines said they found “some loose bolts on many” Boeing 737 MAX 9s during inspections following the Jan. 5 air cabin panel blowout (photo)

On Saturday, a Delta Air Lines plane flying from Atlanta lost its nose band while trying to take off.

The Boeing 757 was scheduled to depart Saturday from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Bogota, Colombia, when the nose gear came loose.

According to the FAA, the nose gear came loose and rolled down the hill, as it did while queuing and waiting to take off.

An Atlas Air Boeing 747 had to land at Miami International Airport shortly after takeoff after one of its engines caught fire.

The captain said the incident involved engine number two and occurred “during the climb out” of the airport.

Officials later said a softball-sized hole was found above the engine after it was examined upon landing.