Boeing Faces U.S. Safety Investigation Over 737 Midair Blowout

(Bloomberg) — The Federal Aviation Administration opened a formal investigation of Boeing Co. ’s aircraft operations following last week’s accident on one of its passenger jets, escalating a quality control crisis at the US planemaker. (Bloomberg) — The Federal Aviation Administration opened a formal investigation of Boeing Co.

’s aircraft operations following last week’s accident on one of its passenger jets, escalating a quality control crisis at the US planemaker. The regulator said the company’s production practices must meet demanding safety standards for which it’s accountable. The investigation stems from a midair blowout of a so-called door plug on a 737 Max 9 jet operated by Alaska Airlines on Jan.

5. “This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again,” the agency said in a statement. The probe compounds troubles unfolding at Boeing after the fuselage panel blew off Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, with 177 aboard.

The agency said it aims to determine whether Boeing “failed to ensure completed products conformed to its approved design and were in a condition for safe operation in compliance with FAA regulations. ” The FAA’s announcement and letter indicate the agency is poised for a broad examination of Boeing’s aircraft production operations that could expose the company to “severe” civil penalties, said Jeff Guzzetti, the former accident investigation chief at FAA. Such a probe could go beyond Boeing’s 737 Max factory near Seattle to include its plant in Charleston, South Carolina, where it assembles the 787 widebody, as well as key suppliers such as Spirit Aerosystems Holdings Inc.

, which makes most of the 737 fuselage, Guzzetti said. “It’s a sweeping investigation,” Guzzetti said in an interview. It gives the agency “carte blanche to come in and investigate anything they want related to aircraft production processes.

” In a letter to Boeing laying out its decision, the FAA said it was notified of “additional discrepancies” on other 737 Max 9 aircraft after the accident, though it didn’t provide details. Boeing said it will “cooperate fully and transparently” with the investigations. The FAA’s move heightens the stakes for Boeing, which already is facing heavy scrutiny over a series of quality issues across its aircraft programs.

Regulators grounded 171 of the 737 Max 9 jets in operation after the Alaska accident to allow for inspections, prompting Max 9 operators to cancel hundreds of flights. Falling Stock United Airlines Holdings Inc. , the largest operators of the model, found loose bolts on several jets during preliminary inspections.

Alaska Air Group Inc. has said “loose hardware was visible” on some of its other Max 9 planes during examinations that followed the accident. United Airlines didn’t immediately comment on the FAA’s latest action.

Alaska Airlines didn’t respond to a request seeking comment. Boeing closed down 2. 3% to $222.

66 in New York trading on Thursday, extending its decline this year to 15% amid the near-disaster and Max 9 grounding. The FAA’s decision comes after US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday hinted that the Max 9 wouldn’t be rushed back into service. At a transportation conference in Washington, he said the aircraft would remain grounded until regulators deem them safe to fly, which he called the “only consideration.

” “The FAA is showing that they are being very aware and executing their oversight in a transparent way, but are also putting Boeing on notice that they want some answers,” said John Cox, chief executive of Safety Operating Systems, an aviation consulting firm. “They want to be sure all the manufacturing processes and procedures are followed to the letter. ” Federal regulators have stepped up oversight of Boeing since a pair of 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 passengers and crew.

Agency inspectors are required to sign off on every 737 and 787 prior to delivery, work it had previously delegated to employees of the planemaker. Document Request Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, home to Boeing’s 737 operations, said the latest accident warrants additional scrutiny of both Boeing’s operations and its watchdog. In a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker on Thursday, Cantwell requested documents from agency safety audits of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems over the last two years.

“In short, it appears that FAA’s oversight processes have not been effective” in light of the Alaska Airlines accident and other recent incidents, wrote Cantwell, who chairs the Senate panel with jurisdiction over aviation safety. The midair blowout followed a series of embarrassing quality lapses that have weighed on the company’s push to boost production and deliveries of the 737 Max. Boeing in December asked operators of newer Max jets to inspect the rudder area for loose hardware.

Those checks came after a separate problem in which Boeing determined that supplier Spirit had improperly drilled holes in a section of the Max’s fuselage that helps maintain cabin pressure. In the accident last week, an almost-new 737 Max 9 saw a large panel of the left-side fuselage eject during flight, leaving passengers exposed to a gaping hole. Nobody was seriously injured and the plane returned safely, but pressure is building on Boeing and its senior management to explain the defect.

In a companywide address on Wednesday, Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun said the company acknowledged its “mistake” and stressed that workers must elevate safety as their top priority. The FAA gave Boeing 10 days to provide evidence, including the root cause of the panel’s blowout, products affected, and what it’s doing to prevent a recurrence. –With assistance from Mary Schlangenstein, Julie Johnsson and Keith Laing.

(Updates from 14th paragraph with Sen. Cantwell comments; Adds closing shares. ) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.

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