737 reports “engine fire”
New Boeing breakdown alerts aviation regulators
April 6, 2024, 4:42 a.m
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The passengers of the US airline Southwest are left with a shock: because the engine of a Boeing 737 is on fire, the pilot aborts takeoff. For the ailing aircraft manufacturer, the new breakdown means further trouble with the aviation authorities.
The US aviation authority FAA is again examining a breakdown in an aircraft belonging to the US company Boeing. A Boeing 737 from the US airline Southwest had to abort its takeoff from the international airport in the Texas city of Lubbock shortly beforehand due to an engine problem, the FAA said. It was therefore a 737-800 NG (Next Generation), the predecessor model of the 737 MAX aircraft.
Boeing emphasized in a statement that the takeoff was aborted “in complete safety” and that the plane returned to the gate independently. The 154 passengers were taken to their destination Las Vegas on Thursday evening on another plane. From a recording of the communication between the tower and the cockpit, which is available on a specialized website, the pilot speaks of “overheating of the brakes” and a “fire in the area of the left drive”. The Lubbock city government also said that the crew reported an “engine fire.”
Recently, several technical breakdowns with Boeing aircraft had put the company under pressure. At the beginning of the year, part of the cabin wall of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 broke off during the flight. The plane had to make an emergency landing. The FAA subsequently ordered a temporary ban on flights for 737 MAX aircraft in January. 171 aircraft were affected.
Breakdown costs Boeing boss millions in bonus
At the end of March, Boeing announced the resignation of its CEO Dave Calhoun at the end of the year. The aircraft manufacturer has now announced that Calhoun will receive $33 million (30.4 million euros) for his work in 2023, but that he has foregone a bonus of $2.8 million after the accident with the Alaska Airlines plane. Calhoun’s earnings reportedly consisted of a base salary of $1.4 million and more than $30 million in stock income. For the current year, Boeing reduced its bonus package by 38 percent to a total of $17 million because of the Alaska Airlines incident.
In its statement, the company emphasized that Calhoun “responded appropriately” to the dangerous incident on the Alaska Airlines flight by accepting responsibility for the accident, working transparently and proactively with regulators and taking important steps to ensure quality assurance Boeing”.