{"id":24789,"date":"2024-03-13T03:12:52","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T08:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=24789"},"modified":"2024-03-13T03:12:59","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T08:12:59","slug":"faa-audit-of-boeings-737-max-production-reportedly-found-dozens-of-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=24789","title":{"rendered":"FAA audit of Boeing\u2019s 737 Max production reportedly found \u2018dozens of issues\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

U.S. air safety regulators found \u201cdozens of problems\u201d at facilities owned by Boeing<\/a> and one of its key suppliers after a six-week audit<\/a> of the production of the 737 Max jet, according to The New York Times<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Federal Aviation Administration started the probe after a door panel blew off a 737 Max 9<\/a> flight on Alaska Airlines<\/a> in early January, an incident that has attracted intense scrutiny of Boeing\u2019s quality-control practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NYT report, published Tuesday, was based on a review of an internal FAA slide presentation and offered a glimpse into the numerous issues found by auditors. Many of the problems fell under the category of failure to follow \u201capproved manufacturing processes\u201d and failure to keep proper quality control documentation, according to the Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAA auditors found that out of 89 product audits that were conducted, Boeing passed 56 tests and failed 33 of them, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the six-week audit, the FAA also conducted 13 product audits that focused on\u00a0Spirit AeroSystems,<\/a>\u00a0which makes fuselages for the Boeing 737 Max \u2014 of those, only six audits resulting in passing grades, and seven failed, the NYT said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A document reviewed by the Times found that a mechanic at Spirit used a hotel key card to check a door seal. In another instance, the FAA reportedly saw Spirit mechanics apply liquid Dawn soap to a door seal to use as a lubricant in the \u201cfit-up process.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for Spirit reportedly said the company was \u201creviewing all identified nonconformities for corrective action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late February, the FAA gave Boeing<\/a> 90 days to develop a plan for quality-control improvements. Around the same time, an expert panel\u2019s report<\/a> on Boeing found a \u201cdisconnect\u201d between its senior management and employees regarding safety culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel report had been required by the U.S. Congress after two crashes in 2018 and 2019 involving Boeing 737 Max planes killed all the passengers and crew aboard \u2014 a total of 346 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the NYT report and recent expert panel report, Boeing said it continues \u201cto implement immediate changes and develop a comprehensive action plan to strengthen safety and quality.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are squarely focused on taking significant, demonstrated action with transparency at every turn,\u201d Boeing said in a statement to CNBC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board is\u00a0looking into<\/a>\u00a0what caused the 737 Max jet door panel to blow off during the Alaska Airlines incident, and the Justice Department has\u00a0reportedly\u00a0<\/a>begun a criminal investigation into the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cnbc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. air safety regulators found \u201cdozens of problems\u201d at facilities owned by Boeing and one of its key suppliers after a six-week audit of the production of the 737 Max jet, according to The New York Times.  The Federal Aviation Administration started the probe after a door panel blew off a 737 Max 9 flight on Alaska Airlines in early January, an incident that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5783],"tags":[27144,25864,3374,27155],"class_list":["post-24789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-737-max","tag-boeing","tag-faa","tag-supplier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24791,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24789\/revisions\/24791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}