Speaking in a company-wide address from the airframe manufacturer’s 737 factory in Washington, Boeing CEO David Calhoun said the organisation must acknowledge its shortcomings after an explosive decompression onboard an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 prompted the emergency grounding of all affected variants.
“We’re going to approach this, number one: acknowledging our mistake,” said Calhoun. “We’re going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way”. He confirmed that Boeing engineers are currently investigating the plane’s door plug, which was recovered from a backyard in Oregan.
Meanwhile, ‘every Boeing 737-9 MAX with a plug door will remain grounded until the FAA finds each can safely return to operation’ confirmed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Although Boeing issued an initial multi-operator message by which affected operators could comply with addressing the FAA emergency airworthiness directive (potentially returning their aircraft to service), these instructions are now being ‘revised because of feedback received in response’, said the FAA.
Both United Airlines and Alaska Airlines discovered loose bolts and what United described as ‘installation issues’ during preliminary inspections of their grounded aircraft. ‘Initial reports from our technicians indicate some loose hardware was visible on the aircraft,’ commented Alaska.
‘Upon receiving the revised version of instructions from Boeing the FAA will conduct a thorough review,’ concluded the FAA, adding that ‘the safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 MAX to service’.