Less than a week after the Alaska Airlines accident which saw a part of the cabin of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 torn off in the air, the FAA, the Federal Aviation Authority, launched an investigation on Thursday January 11 against Boeing. The aerospace firm received a stern warning from the supervisory authority.
“This incident should never have happened and it cannot happen again”declares the FAA in a press release. “Boeing’s manufacturing practices must conform to the high safety standards to which they are legally required to adhere. » The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an agency of the United States government responsible for investigating air accidents, is also investigating.
“We will cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and NTSB in their investigations,” responds Boeing in a laconic press release. As early as Tuesday, his boss David Calhoun had declared to the company’s executives meeting urgently that they were going to start by recognizing their ” error “. In reality, relationships are anything but fluid and serene. The incident occurs at a time of major mistrust due to precedents: in 2018 and 2019, two 737 MAX 8s were damaged, killing 346 people due to serious defects and it appeared that Boeing wanted to fool the regulatory authorities.
“Not a surprise”
In the wake of the accident, the FAA ordered the grounding of 171 737 MAX 9s, owned mainly by Alaska Airlines and United. The inspection is expected to last between four and eight hours. But no aircraft has been able to fly again for the moment due to the absence of precise and definitive instructions from the FAA and Boeing. The two airlines indicated on Monday that they had discovered poorly tightened screws when they had to hold in place the blocking part which replaces an emergency door, the same one which came off the Alaska Airlines aircraft. .
Boeing’s technical failure sparks havoc. “It’s not a surprise, unfortunately”accused Ed Pierson, former Boeing employee and whistleblower, on CNBC, denouncing “the race to produce aircraft” launched by Boeing and its lobbying to avoid inspections. Elon Musk took the opportunity to push his political ideas: the boss of SpaceX and Tesla attacked Boeing for having changed the performance objectives set for its leaders in 2022, adding the so-called “DEI” criteria (diversity, equity, inclusion) and climatic: “Do you want to fly on a plane where they prioritized hiring DEIs over your safety? This is actually happening”accuses Elon Musk, who adds: “People will die because of DEI. »
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