FAA Investigates Boeing for Unsafe MAX Aircraft Deliveries

UPDATE Jan 13 - The FAA has launched a formal investigation into Boeing to check if the airframer has delivered aircraft that did not comply with design and safety standards. The agency formally notified Boeing in a letter on Wednesday. Boeing said that “we will cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and the NTSB on their investigations.” On Friday, the FAA took additional steps to increase oversight. The investigation follows the blowout of the door plug on the Alaska Airlines MAX 9 on January 5 and the discovery of “additional discrepancies” on other 737-9 aircraft. These are believed to be aircraft of Alaska and United Airlines, on which loose bolts were found during preliminary inspections on the day after the Alaska accident. While Boeing intended to offer inspection instructions in a multi-operator message to airlines, the FAA at first requested more information about the checks. But following the discovery of more loose bolts, the agency seems to have toughened its position on Boeing. The FAA writes that the additional findings “indicate that Boeing may have failed to ensure its completed products conformed to its approved design and were in a condition for safe operation in accordance with quality system inspection and test procedures.” The agency is asking Boeing to provide evidence or statements concerning the matter within ten working days. “Your response should contain the root cause of the encountered condition(s), products/articles affected, service impacts, the extent of any immediate/long-term action taken to correct and preclude its recurrence, and any mitigating circumstances which you believe may be relevant to this case.” In a statement on X on Thursday that confirms the investigation, the FAA says: “This incident should never have happened and it cannot happen again. (…) Boeing’s manufacturing practices need to comply with the high safety standards they’re legally accountable to meet.” The message ends with: “The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 MAX to service.” Audit of the MAX 9 production line On Friday, the FAA said it will take additional steps to increase oversight of Boeing. This includes an audit involving the MAX 9 production line and its suppliers to evaluate Boeing’s compliance with its approved quality procedures. "The results of the FAA’s audit analysis will determine whether additional audits are necessary." The FAA will also increase monitoring of MAX 9 in-service events when the type will be allowed to return to service, which is out of the question right now. Also, the FAA says that it will assess the "safety risks around delegated authority and quality oversight, and examination of options to move these functions under independent, third-party entities." This is a deja vu from 2019 and 2020, when Boeing as well as the FAA came under scrutiny from the US Congress for how Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) and other oversight failed, allowing the airframer to incorporate the defective MCAS system in the MAX 8. The so-called Whistleblower Report of December 2021 identified the lack of oversight by the FAA, often because FAA certification officials were overruled. The report identified two safety-related incidents on the production line at the time. In a media statement on Friday, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said: "It is time to re-examine the delegation of authority and assess any associated safety risks. The grounding of the 737-9 and the multiple production-related issues identified in recent years require us to look at every option to reduce risk. The FAA is exploring the use of an independent third party to oversee Boeing’s inspections and its quality system." The answers to what happened on Alaska AS1282 are not just on the fittings and why they broke loose, but focus on how the plug was treated during manufacturing and assembly. And if the upper and lower guide fittings were secured by bolts or if they missing. FAA requires additional data Later on Friday, Alaska Airlines said that the FAA had communicated instructions for preliminary inspections of some MAX 9s. "Data collected from these inspections will inform the FAA’s ultimate issuance of a global Method of Compliance (MOC) and the process to complete inspections of the full fleet – a required step to safely return the aircraft to service," Alaska said. An FAA statement said that it is requiring Boeing "to provide additional data before the agency approves an extensive and rigorous inspection and maintenance process for returning 737 MAX-9 aircraft to service." The regulator wants information about the door plugs on 40 aircraft. "If the FAA approves Boeing’s inspection and maintenance instructions, operators will be required to perform that regimen on every aircraft before it is returned to service." Alaska will reposition some MAX 9s to the airline's primary maintenance bases on special flights that are FAA-approved and fly without cabin crew and passengers. Both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have canceled all MAX 9 operations until January 16, but this is likely to be extended. Subsidiary Horizon Air assists Alaska by operating Embraer E175s on routes that are normally flown by the Boeing MAX 9. Pressure from the Senate The accident is getting more political implications as well. Senators Edward J. Markey, James D. Vance, and Peter Welch called on Boeing President and CEO David Calhoun to fully cooperate with the NTSB investigation. “Although the investigation is in its early stages, this incident raises serious questions about Boeing’s manufacturing control, oversight of contractors, and communications with airlines, which may have contributed to the door plug bursting from the side of the airplane,” the Senators write in a letter on Thursday. “Although there is no evidence of a systemic design flaw, Boeing’s quality assurance process appears to have been unable to identify the loose bolts – a serious oversight. Even more concerning, Boeing contracts the manufacture and installation of door plugs to Spirit AeroSystems, raising questions about not only Boeing’s internal quality control, but also its oversight of its contractors. Given the previous tragic of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, we are deeply concerned that the loose bolts represent a systemic issue with Boeing’s capabilities to manufacture safe airplanes.” The Senators also asked Calhoun why Boeing pulled back the initial multi-operator message to airlines. And they want to know if Boeing’s Board of Directors Aerospace Safety Committee was aware of production quality issues at Spirit AeroSystems. They ask Calhoun to reply before January 17. Airbus is monitoring the situation Quality issues at Spirit AeroSystems have been a problem for Boeing for a couple of years now, not just on the MAX but also on the 787. The Wichita company is also a major supplier to Airbus on the A220, A320neo family, and A350 programs. During a media call about the 2023 orders and deliveries, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury was asked if he is aware of any quality issues at Spirit. “We have worked very closely with Spirit over the last years. The incident that you are referring to is a rather fresh one. We are monitoring this very closely and see what comes out of the ongoing investigation. Obviously, we will be taking each and every learning and we expect Spirit to do exactly the same.”

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