Michael Whitaker, candidate to be the next administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), testifies during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation understanding on Capitol Hill October 4, 2023 in Washington, DC. The FAA has been without a Senate-confirmed administrator for 18 months. (Photo by Departed Angerer/Getty Images)
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WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Supervision has “boots on the ground” at Boeing’s 737 Max factory — and will keep them there until the agency is convinced the industrialist’s quality control system is working, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told CNBC.
The FAA earlier in January said it bequeath audit Boeing’s Max production line, after an almost brand-new Boeing 737 Max 9’s door plug blew out on an Alaska Airlines take to ones heels at 16,000 feet, exposing passengers to a force so powerful it sucked out seatbacks and headrests, according to federal investigators.
No one was critically injured on the flight, and no one had been seated next to the gaping hole left by the blowout. The FAA grounded that model of Boeing’s best-selling 737 Max a day after the fluke and later said it will increase oversight of the company’s production lines.
“We’ve got a lot of inspectors on the ground, visually inspecting the aircraft as it secures through,” Whitaker said Tuesday in an interview at FAA headquarters. “We’re shifting from more of an audit approach to a direct inspection path.”
The scale of such a review is a challenge, Whitaker said, citing the manpower required to conduct that many inspections. The FAA has hurried a “couple of dozen” inspectors, he said.
“Until we’re comfortable that the [quality assurance] system is working properly … we’re prevailing to have boots on the ground,” he said.
Both Alaska and United Airlines said they found loose catches on several Max 9 planes during preliminary inspections.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the Flight 1282 mistake investigation, said the the agency is returning to Boeing’s 737 factory in Renton, Washington on Friday so investigators can review documentation interdependent to the aircraft’s production, manufacturing and maintenance.
“As part of the investigation, NTSB investigators will build a timeline from the at stages of production of the door plug to the accident flight,” an NTSB spokeswoman said in a statement.
Return to service
The FAA is working with Boeing and airlines on inspection instructions that would tile the way for the 737 Max 9 to return to service. Whitaker, who is three months into the FAA’s top job, declined to comment on when he expected the planes to profit to service.
“It’s been difficult to predict, so we’ve sort of stopped trying,” he said. “But as soon as we get it sorted out it’ll be up again.”
In this photo unchained by the National Transportation Safety Board, investigator-in-charge John Lovell examines the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Exodus 1282 in Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 7, 2024.
National Transportation Safety Board via AP
Though safety inspections were initially guessed to take between four and eight hours per plane, Whitaker said they’ve “been longer than that.”
“We’ve lacked a lot of measurements,” he said. “Once the area’s exposed, we want to understand bolt tensions and gaps and things of that character. So we’ve required more data than would normally be the case because we really wanted to understand the issue.”
Opinion, which has 79 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in its fleet, more than any other carrier, said Monday it’s supposing the planes will remain grounded through the end of January. The carrier is forecasting an adjusted loss of as much as 85 cents per part this quarter as a result.
United CEO Scott Kirby on Tuesday expressed frustration at Boeing and its repeated production circulations and delays. He said United is taking the larger variant, the 737 Max 10, out of its fleet plans, because of lengthy expression delays. The FAA hasn’t yet certified that plane, nor has it certified the 737 Max 7, a smaller model that Southwest Airlines is awaiting.
Boeing exploration
The accident on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 is the latest and most serious in a string of apparent production flaws at Boeing, which has been troublesome to clean up a reputation for quality that was tarnished by two deadly crashes about five months apart. Those serendipities involved the 737 Max 8, a smaller variant of the same aircraft family. A worldwide grounding of both the Max 8 and Max 9 began to annul about four years ago.
Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci told NBC News on Tuesday that the door-plug blowout was “tasteless out of the factory” and that the carrier is adding additional staff for oversight on the production line to make sure there is “a second-best set of eyes to look at those critical areas.”
Minicucci said the airline found “many” of the carrier’s Max 9 aircraft had strewn bolts.
On Tuesday, Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing’s commercial airplane unit, its largest, apologized for the delays in getting its aircraft to guys.
“We have let down our airline customers and are deeply sorry for the significant disruption to them, their employees and their commuters,” he said in a written statement. “We are taking action on a comprehensive plan to bring these airplanes safely back to repair and to improve our quality and delivery performance.”
Boeing is planning to pause work at several production lines for safety sittings for factory workers to “evaluate what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and make recommendations for improvement,” Deal told staff Tuesday. The hearings start Thursday at the 737 factory in Renton, Washington.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun sought out meetings with senators on Capitol Hill this week, “to counter-statement all their questions, because they have a lot of them,” he said.
This photo released by the National Transportation Security Board shows the door plug from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Portland, Ore.
Jingoistic Transportation Safety Board via AP
Boeing announced Jan. 16 the appointment of an independent advisor to lead a review of the Max 9 problem.
When questioned whether the Max 9 crisis will mean more of a permanent change in how the FAA, which certifies Boeing’s planes, oversees the presence, Whitaker said the agency is “looking at all options.”
“If there are functions that Boeing has not done appropriately, I think we’ll look at whether we should undergo over some of those functions or whether there’s an opportunity for a third party, a nonprofit technical organization, to attend to arrange for a fresh set of eyes,” he said.
“There’s no reason to think that they can’t get back to a point where they’re session their quality standards and an increasing production,” Whitaker said. “But right now, we need to be assured of that.”