Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes don’t return to the sky quickly.
On Friday, a week after a panel exploded on an Alaska Airlines plane operating the Max 9 — blowing a refrigerator-sized hole into the plane and rapidly depressurizing the cabin — the Federal Aviation Administration said the planes would remain grounded until Boeing provided data that would It takes days to collect.
737 MAX 9 planes are “parked” at airport hubs, including Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, while airlines await inspection instructions from Boeing. These instructions must be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Boeing presented the first round of plans earlier this week, before retracting them the same day.
The FAA said Friday it was “encouraged by the comprehensive nature” of Boeing’s instructions, but would not approve the plans until it reviews data from the first 40 inspections.
“We are working to make sure something like this never happens again,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said. “Our only concern is the safety of American travelers and the Boeing 737-9 MAX will not return to the skies until we are absolutely sure it is safe.”
In another sign that the repercussions of the fuselage explosion are not over yet, airlines operating the Boeing 737 MAX 9 have asked passengers to expect cancellations to continue until next week. Alaska and United Airlines, the only U.S.-based airlines operating the Max 9, have canceled those flights through Tuesday.
United estimated it would affect roughly 200 flights per day, while Alaska said it would affect 110 to 150 flights per day.
“Although the MAX 9 will not fly this weekend, our work continues,” United said in a statement to the Seattle Times. He added: “As we said before, these aircraft will not fly until they are approved and we are confident that they are 100% safe.”
Alaska has begun repositioning some of its fleet of 737 MAX 9 aircraft at “initial maintenance bases,” in order to begin inspections as soon as they get the go-ahead.
The door plug visits the capital
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded the 737 Max 9 model last Saturday, a day after a piece of the fuselage exploded off Alaska Flight 1282 16,000 feet in the air. The item that exploded was a door stopper that filled a space on the plane where an emergency exit was installed for airlines that put extra seats in the cabin.
United and Alaska do not use the hatch, instead installing a door plug into the space.
When everything is working properly, the plug is fixed with small brackets on both sides of the door frame. These brackets – called “stop fittings” – are lined with 12 identical stop pads on the door plug. When pressure is applied to the passenger compartment, the stop pads compress the stop fittings and lock the door plug in place.
To perform maintenance on the aircraft, the door plug can move up and out. To prevent this from happening when it’s not supposed to, and to prevent the door plug from blowing out, there are also four screws that hold the door plug in place.
These bolts are the focus of the current accident investigation, which is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board.
After examining the plane and the 63-pound door plug, the NTSB concluded that the door plug had indeed moved upward, and that the four screws that were supposed to prevent this from happening were either missing, installed incorrectly, or broken.
The door plug that caused the explosion of Flight 1282 was found near Portland shortly after the accident. He. She receipt At the NTSB laboratory in Washington, D.C., on Friday. There, investigators will look for signs of what caused it to explode, including scratch marks that could indicate whether the bolts were fastened or not.
A week of investigations
In the week after the fuselage exploded, regulators and lawmakers were quick to act, especially on Thursday and Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday morning that it had opened an investigation into Boeing’s role in the accident to determine whether the company complied with regulations intended to ensure the safety of its planes and that they were manufactured properly.
Later that day, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., sent a letter to the FAA demanding more information about the agency’s oversight of Boeing, oversight that came under intense congressional scrutiny five years ago after 346 people were killed in a Two MAX plane crashes.
Cantwell asked to see the last 24 months of notices of FAA quality systems audits related to Boeing and one of its suppliers, Spirit AeroSystems. Spirit, based in Wichita, Kan., builds the entire fuselage for the 737 MAX 9, before sending it to Boeing’s factory in Renton by train.
On Friday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that it would intensify its oversight and review of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 production line, as well as the company’s spare parts suppliers. Also seen Using an independent third party to oversee Boeing’s inspections and quality control system.
“It is time to reconsider delegation of authority and evaluate any associated safety risks,” Whitaker said in a statement Friday morning. “The grounding of the 737-9 and multiple production-related issues identified in recent years require us to consider every option to mitigate risk.”
On Friday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration indicated it would take some time before it approved inspection instructions required to return planes to the skies.
Boeing said Monday it expected to deliver a revised set of instructions, but four days later, airlines have not received an update. On Friday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration directed that the planes will remain on the ground until it reviews data from the first round of inspections.
It is not clear how long those rounds will take.
“The safety of the public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 MAX to service,” the FAA said earlier this week.
Only MAX 9 models that fill the space with a door jack, rather than an emergency exit, will need to be inspected.
Mark Scribner, a transportation policy analyst from the libertarian Reason Foundation think tank, is waiting for a different kind of data from Boeing. He’s monitoring the company’s response to the FAA’s investigative letter, a letter it delivered to Boeing executives on Thursday.
The FAA asked Boeing to respond to its letter within 10 business days with information about the “root cause” of the incident, details about the service impacts and products affected, and information about any immediate and long-term action taken to correct the problem.
“At the core (about) the current situation, we really need a root cause analysis,” Scribner said. “Because that will ultimately shape the discussion.”
“I cannot predict what will happen, but it is clear that this is a serious incident and the ramifications could be widespread and long-lasting.”
Boeing said it will cooperate fully and transparently with the NTSB and the FAA in both investigations. The company confirmed on Friday that it would cooperate with the newly announced audit.
“We welcome the FAA’s announcement,” Boeing said. “We support all measures that enhance quality and safety and are taking action across our production system.”