Door that fell from Boeing may have come out without screws – 02/06/2024 – Market

Four screws used to secure a panel that came loose from an Alaska Airlines plane during a January flight were removed — and apparently not replaced — at Boeing’s Renton, Washington, factory, according to a preliminary report released this week. Tuesday (6) by the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates accidents).

The panel, known as the port plug, was opened to repair damaged rivets in the plane’s body, known as the fuselage.

The report did not say who removed the screws holding the port plug in place. But the safety board said it appeared not all of the screws were replaced, as the door was reinstalled on the plane after the rivets were repaired.

As evidence, the NTSB provided a photograph of the door plug after it was reinstalled but before the plane’s interior was restored. In the image, three of the four screws appear to be missing. The location of the fourth screw is covered with insulation.

The report said the image had been attached to “a text message between Boeing team members on September 19, 2023.”

Boeing employees “were discussing interior restoration after rivet repair was completed during second shift operations that day,” the report said.

The NTSB said there was no evidence that the plug had been opened again after leaving the Boeing factory. The plane was delivered to Alaska Airlines in late October.

The report intensifies scrutiny of Boeing, which has struggled for weeks to contain the fallout from the incident, and raises new questions about whether the company has done enough to improve safety following two fatal crashes of 737 Max 8 planes in 2018 and 2019.

The investigation also answers critical questions about why the door plug came loose shortly after Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport in Oregon.

The Alaska Airlines incident prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to suspend the use of some 737 Max 9 jets, disrupting flight schedules for days at Alaska and United Airlines, the two US airlines that operate the model.

The FAA also limited Boeing’s ambitious plans to increase production of all Max jets, leaving the company in uncertainty.

The company planned to build 42 jets a month this year and 50 a month next year, but will now keep production at 38, possibly for many months.

Boeing executives last week declined to provide a financial forecast for the year, citing the incident and the need to focus on safety.

Furious airline executives took the rare step of publicly criticizing Boeing and expressing doubts that it will be able to deliver the planes they had ordered on time.

The incident and its ripple effects have left Boeing, one of the world’s two largest planemakers, in a familiar position — trying to navigate a crisis with unknown financial and reputational costs.

Just five years ago, after the two fatal Max 8 crashes that killed nearly 350 people, the company spent billions of dollars to make its planes safer and repair its reputation.

With the company once again struggling, it is rushing to tell customers, regulators and members of Congress that it is focused on improving quality control.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun visited Spirit AeroSystems, a supplier in Wichita, Kansas, that makes the bodies of the 737 Max planes.

Boeing also held an event where employees at the Renton factory where Max planes are built stopped work for a day to participate in quality sessions. And he promised to reward employees “for speaking up to slow things down if necessary.”

But even as it tries to resolve its problems, Boeing said Sunday that a supplier last week discovered a new problem with the fuselages of dozens of unfinished 737 Max planes.

The supplier discovered that “two holes may not have been drilled exactly to our requirements.”

Although it did not name the supplier, a Spirit spokesperson said a member of its team identified an issue last week that did not meet engineering standards.

Boeing said the problem would force the company to rework about 50 planes, delaying their delivery.

In a call with analysts on Tuesday, Spirit AeroSystems CEO Patrick Shanahan said he was increasing the number of inspections performed, along with those done by Boeing.

Also on Tuesday, Mike Whitaker, the FAA’s top official, told a House panel that the agency would increase its presence there to monitor Boeing aircraft production.

“In the future, we will have more people keeping a close eye and closely monitoring production and manufacturing activities,” Whitaker told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s aviation subcommittee.

In addition to limiting Boeing’s increase in production, the agency opened an investigation into the plane maker’s compliance with safety standards. It also began an audit to analyze the company’s production of the Max, which Whitaker said would take six weeks.

He said the agency had sent about 20 inspectors to Boeing and more than 6 to Spirit.