- The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has opened a new investigation into aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
- The authority announced on Monday that there is a suspicion that required inspections were not carried out on certain 787 “Dreamliner” aircraft.
- Boeing informed the authority that on some of the long-haul aircraft the connection points between the fuselage and wings may not have been checked as required.
As part of the investigation, it will now be examined whether the necessary inspections were carried out and whether Boeing employees may have falsified audit documents, the FAA said. The company is checking all 787s on the production lines and must also develop an appropriate plan for machines that are in operation.
According to Boeing, no planes need to be grounded
Boeing emphasized that it was not an urgent safety issue for the current airline fleet and that no aircraft had to be grounded. The tip to the FAA was based on a tip from a Boeing employee who observed a violation of the audit requirements and informed management, wrote 787 program manager Scott Stocker in an email to the workforce.
Legend:
On 737 aircraft, the fuselage-wing junctions may not have been inspected as required.
AP/The Post And Courier/Gavin McIntyre
Quality oversight at Boeing has been increasingly in focus since a dramatic incident at the beginning of January. Shortly after take-off, a fuselage fragment broke off in row 26 of a virtually new Boeing 737-9 Max from the US airline Alaska Airlines. The more than 170 people on board largely escaped horror. However, it was only by a stroke of luck that the two seats near the hole in the fuselage remained empty and the aircraft was still at a relatively low altitude.
“Dreamliners” have already been discussed in the US Senate
The 787 program was the subject of a recent hearing in the US Senate. A Boeing employee acting as a whistleblower criticizes the fact that many aircraft of this type have too high a gap mass between the fuselage parts, which could shorten the service life of the machines. Boeing emphatically rejects the allegations.
Boeing shares then fell and were down around two percent shortly before the close of trading in New York. Boeing recently suffered a massive decline in sales. At the behest of the FAA, the company had to reduce production of its best-selling 737 MAX after the headline-grabbing breakdown. The aircraft manufacturer has been struggling for years with accusations of being too negligent in design and production.