After the depressurization incident suffered by a Boeing 737 MAX 9 of Alaska Airlines last Friday, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has put the aircraft manufacturer in the spotlight. In a letter made public In the last few hours, the agency confirmed that it will carry out a formal investigation against Boeing to determine what happened.
Specifically, the FAA wants to know if Boeing failed to comply with regulations during the manufacturing of the 737 MAX 9. Thus, it will be analyzed whether the Seattle company omitted the quality tests that guarantee that an aircraft is safe to operate, or if it failed in its execution.
Through its account on X (Twitter), the organization It was categorical.. “This incident should never have happened and cannot happen again,” the Federal Aviation Administration said. Boeing will have 10 business days to present evidence or comments about what happened.
“Your response should contain the root cause of the condition(s) found, the products or items affected, the impacts on service, the scope of any immediate or long-term action taken to correct and prevent its recurrence , and any mitigating circumstances that you believe may be relevant to this case,” the letter states.
Boeing, in the spotlight for the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 incident
The situation is far from ideal for Boeing following the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 incident. Not only because practically all airlines that use this model have ceased operations with it, but because what happened days ago would not be an isolated event.
Recall that Alaska Airlines flight 1282 departed from Portland, Oregon, airport last Friday bound for Los Angeles, California. However, shortly after takeoff, the Boeing 737 MAX 9 suffered the passenger cabin depressurization after a large piece of fuselage came off. Fortunately, the adjacent seats were unoccupied and the plane was able to return to its airport of origin with the travelers and crew safe.
Hours later it was learned that the piece that came loose from the aircraft was a center door stopper either mid-cabin door plug. This element is used to seal the fuselage when the seating configuration does not require an additional emergency exit. The FAA ordered the immediate suspension of flights of all Boeing 737 MAX 9 that had this component. Although some airlines chose to cancel all operations with this model, regardless of their number of seats.
United Airlinesthe main operator of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 in the world, found loose screws in the center door plugs of his fleet, in the inspections following the Alaska Airlines incident. “Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found cases that appear to be related to installation problems in the door stoppers. For example, bolts that needed additional tightening. These findings will be remedied by our technical operations team to return the plane into service safely”, the company indicated.
An investigation that will take time
The FAA will have to determine if the Boeing 737 MAX 9 production line has problems. Or if the aircraft manufacturer did not carry out quality and safety controls appropriately. Although it is not known how long the investigation will take, everything indicates that this model could remain suspended for quite some time.
“Boeing’s manufacturing practices must meet the high safety standards they are legally required to obey. […] “Public safety, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737 MAX 9 to service,” officials said.