The Federal Aviation Administration says it will increase oversight of Boeing and monitor production of the 737 Max 9 jetliner after a panel last week blew off an Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight, the latest in a series of accidents at the airline. troubled aircraft manufacturer.
The FAA said Friday it would review whether Boeing and its suppliers were following approved quality procedures.
The FAA also said it is reconsidering a long-standing practice of relying on aircraft manufacturer employees to conduct safety analyzes of aircraft. Members of Congress criticized the practice after two fatal crashes involving Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in 2018 and 2019.
“It is time to reexamine the delegation of authority and assess the associated safety risks,” said new FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker. “The FAA is investigating the use of an independent third party to oversee Boeing’s inspections and quality system.”
Whitaker suggested that the FAA could find “a technical non-profit organization” to oversee Boeing’s work.
The agency also said it will increase monitoring of problems reported on Max 9 flights.
Boeing did not comment several hours after the FAA announcement. Spirit AeroSystems also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The FAA’s increasing focus on manufacturer safety comes just a day after it announced an investigation into whether Boeing failed to ensure a blown-off fuselage panel was safe and manufactured to the design regulators approved .
Whitaker told CNBC that the FAA will also increase its oversight of Spirit AeroSystems, which supplies Boeing with fuselages for the 737 Max.
“We know there are issues with production, there have been issues in the past, but they continue,” Whitaker said. “This is a brand new airplane, it just came off the line and there were significant problems, and I think there are other production problems.”
Boeing, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, previously said it would cooperate with the FAA investigation, which focuses on plugs used to fill spots for extra doors when those exits are not needed for safety reasons on Boeing 737s Max 9 aircraft.
One of the two door plugs on an Alaska Airlines jet exploded shortly after the plane took off from Portland, Oregon, a week ago, leaving a hole in the plane. The cabin lost pressure and was forced to descend rapidly and return to Portland for an emergency landing. No serious injuries were reported.
Former Congressman Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House committee that investigated the Max crashes, said Friday that the FAA’s actions are necessary to rein in quality and safety problems at Boeing.
“This is an extraordinary step by the FAA administrator, one that is long overdue,” he said. “The possibility that Boeing will lose the (deputy of its employees) and be subject to independent third-party oversight – and I would expect this to be paid for by Boeing – would be a huge, unprecedented step to overcome the reluctant executives at Boeing to shape the company.”
After the panel blew off the plane, the FAA grounded all Max 9s equipped with door plugs, forcing Alaska and United to suspend flights. The plane remains on the ground while the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA continue their investigation.
Since then, the FAA has been notified of other problems with the Max 9. Alaska and United reported finding loose bolts on door plugs they inspected in some of their other Max 9 jets.
NTSB investigators said this week that they have been unable to locate four bolts used to secure the 63-pound door plug. They’re not sure if the bolts were there before the plane took off.
On Thursday, the FAA asked Boeing to respond within 10 business days and tell the agency “the cause” of the door plug problem and the steps the company is taking to prevent a recurrence.
Earlier this week, Boeing CEO David Calhoun called the incident “a quality lapse.” He told employees that the company “acknowledged our mistake … and this event can never happen again.”
The door plugs were installed by Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, but investigators did not say which company personnel last worked on the plug on the Alaska plane that was struck.
The day after the eruption, the FAA grounded all 65 Alaska Max 9s and 79 United Airlines until Boeing develops inspection guidelines and planes can be examined. Alaska canceled all Max 9s flights through Saturday.
The incident involving the Alaska plane is the latest in a series of accidents for Boeing that began in 2018, with the first of two crashes of Max 8 planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia – more than four months apart – killing a total of 346 people came to life. .
Max 8 and Max 9 planes were grounded worldwide for almost two years after the second crash. Since then, various manufacturing defects have sometimes delayed deliveries of Max jets and a larger Boeing aircraft, the 787. Last month, the company asked airlines to inspect their Max jets for a loose bolt in the rudder control system.