Loose bolts found on 737 MAX planes
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO—Boeing’s latest 737 MAX crisis deepened on Monday after United Airlines said it had found loose bolts on multiple grounded MAX 9 aircraft, raising new concerns among industry experts about how its best-selling jet family is manufactured.
US regulators grounded 171 MAX 9 planes after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines-operated flight not long after taking off from a Portland, Oregon, airport on Friday, forcing pilots to scramble to land the plane safely.
United, one of the two US carriers that fly this Boeing model with the panels, said its own preliminary checks found bolts that needed tightening on several panels. That disclosure heightened concerns about the production process of the MAX 9 jets that have been grounded.
A source familiar with the matter said United has so far found closer to 10 airplanes with loose bolts during its preliminary checks, up from an initial five first reported by industry publication The Air Current, and the figure may increase.
There are still ongoing discussions between Boeing, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the airlines on the precise inspection guidelines.
Boeing is expected to revise the guidelines it submitted to airlines earlier on Monday, and the FAA would have to sign off on those changes before the airlines could begin repairs, sources said.
Revised guidelinesAlaska Airlines said it was waiting for final revised guidelines from Boeing before it could start inspecting planes and said it was ready to begin as soon as it received required FAA approvals.
Boeing said it was staying in close contact with MAX 9 operators and would help customers address any findings during inspections.
“We are committed to ensuring every Boeing airplane meets design specifications and the highest safety and quality standards,” the planemaker said. “We regret the impact this has had on our customers and their passengers.”
Several industry insiders said airlines have started to hear passengers voice concerns about the safety of the aircraft, even though the MAX 9 in question is only used by a handful of carriers.
Any prolonged concerns may increase pressure on Boeing, which has suffered from numerous production issues since the wider grounding of the 737 MAX family in March 2019 that lasted 20 months after two deadly crashes killed 346 people.
“This changes a lot because it is now a fleet problem. This is a quality control problem,” said US aircraft safety expert John Cox.
Investigators said on Sunday it was too early to determine the cause.
Boeing shares sank 8 percent on Monday.
Boeing’s largest single-aisle model in production has a panel known as a door plug to replace an exit that would be installed on planes configured to carry more passengers. Most operators use the lower-density version with the door plug.
Installation issuesPeople familiar with the process have said the panel is fitted in two stages, first by supplier Spirit AeroSystems and later completed by Boeing. Investigators said they would examine both manufacturing and maintenance records.
Spirit shares fell 11 percent on Monday.
The FAA declined to comment on the loose bolt reports.
“Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug—for example, bolts that needed additional tightening,” United said in a statement.
Once the final process is approved by the FAA, inspections are expected to take several days, forcing the cancellation of numerous flights. One senior industry source said the timing was increasingly unpredictable and that the FAA, under a recently appointed leader, would be cautious.
The FAA said planes would remain grounded “until operators complete enhanced inspections which include both left and right cabin door exit plugs, door components, and fasteners.”
Alaska Airlines pilots on Friday turned the plane around and landed it safety, and no major injuries were reported even as oxygen masks deployed and personal items were sucked out of the plane. —REUTERS
