Another security incident
Boeing 737 has to turn back due to crack in windshield
January 13, 2024, 4:30 p.m
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Boeing’s quality problems continue. This time a crack in the cockpit window forced a 737-800 aircraft in Japan to turn back. Experts express fundamental doubts about Boeing’s safety standards.
The series of breakdowns with aircraft from the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing continues. A crack appeared in the windshield of a Boeing 737-800 during a domestic flight in Japan. The plane, which was en route from Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido to the central Japanese city of Toyoma, had to abort the flight and return to the departure airport. None of the 59 passengers and crew on board were injured, said a spokesman for All Nippon Airways (ANA).
It was reported that the crack occurred in the outermost of four layers of the cockpit window. The crack did not affect the control of the aircraft or the pressure in the cabin, the ANA spokesman said. Even though the incident ended lightly, it shed further light on apparent quality problems with the 737 aircraft from US manufacturer Boeing.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has just extended its flight ban on Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft indefinitely. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the ongoing grounding of 171 aircraft is “for the safety of American travelers.” Dozens of aircraft would therefore have to be inspected again. The flight ban and inspections were in response to an incident in which an Alaska Airlines plane lost part of its cabin wall shortly after takeoff from the US state of Oregon. However, during subsequent inspections, experts also discovered safety deficiencies in other aircraft.
“Does Boeing have its organization under control?”
The 737 Max model has been causing huge problems for Boeing for years. After two plane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia with a total of 346 deaths, a global ban on flights of this type was imposed in March 2019, which was only lifted at the end of 2020 after technical revisions.
After the recent incidents, experts expressed fundamental doubts about the safety standards in production at Boeing. He assumes that the incident is a “production-related problem,” said aviation expert Gerhard Wissel ntv.de about the incident at Alaska Airlines. The company has to ask itself the question: Does Boeing have enough control over its own organization to deliver an aircraft that is truly airworthy and 100 percent safe?