According to Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 5 (FAA) said on March 4 that Boeing and its airframe manufacturer Aero Systems have some "non-compliance" in the quality control of the manufacture of the 737 MAX passenger aircraft.
A Boeing 737 MAX aircraft performs a flight show at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport near Paris, France, June 19, 2023. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Gao Jing.
The FAA said in a statement that a six-week audit of Boeing and Spire found "multiple circumstances" involving the two companies "may not have complied with some manufacturing quality control requirements." Among them, Boeing has "non-compliance" in "manufacturing process control, parts transportation and storage, and product control".
The FAA has sent a summary of the audit findings to Boeing and Bound & Bounds. Given that the investigation is ongoing, the FAA did not disclose the specific findings of the audit and the corrective actions that should be taken by the two companies.
Reuters quoted Boeing as responding that Boeing had "a clear understanding of what needs to be done" based on the FAA's audit findings and the expert evaluation team report. The company said it was communicating with Boeing and the FAA about "corresponding corrective measures."
The FAA announced on January 13 that it would conduct an audit of the manufacture of the Boeing 737 MAX family of airliners. The "trigger" for this action was the fall off of a door plug in the cabin of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 passenger plane of Alaska Airlines on January 5. The aircraft made an emergency landing and no personnel were affected**.
In the wake of the incident, the FAA ordered all Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or operating in the U.S. to be grounded for several weeks to undergo safety inspections, and restricted Boeing from increasing production of the 737 MAX family until safety hazards were identified.
An assessment team of aviation experts released an investigation report on the 26th of last month, finding that Boeing has problems with the company's safety culture. On the 28th, the FAA asked Boeing to develop a comprehensive action plan within 90 days to address its "systemic quality control issues."
In 2018 and 2019, a total of 346 people were killed in air crashes on Indonesian Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights, both of which were Boeing 737 MAX 8 airliners. The Boeing 737 MAX family was then grounded in many countries and regions around the world for nearly two years.
A number of safety accidents have exposed many problems of Boeing, and also highlighted some deep-seated problems such as incompetence of corporate governance, negligence of regulatory departments, and backlash of narrow industrial policies, which have become typical cases of the American manufacturing industry falling from the altar and declining.
Edited by Jiani Liu, Xinhua News Agency.
Duty Editor: Li plus or minus.