“We will approach [ce dossier] “starting by recognizing our mistake”, admitted, this Tuesday, January 9, the general director of Boeing, Dave Calhoun, after the incident of unhooking a door during an Alaska Airlines flight, which led to the maintaining dozens of 737 MAX 9 aircraft from the American manufacturer on the ground.
Dave Calhoun, who spoke at a meeting at the group’s factory in Renton, Washington, promised to handle the issue “transparently, every step of the way.” He said he was relying on the American Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority (FAA) “to ensure that all aircraft authorized to fly are safe and to ensure that this event never happens again.”
If the boss of the aircraft manufacturer did not specify what he meant by the word “error”, he claimed to have been marked by the images of the Alaska Airlines flight, which had to turn around, Friday 5 January, after a door was torn off. “All the details are important,” he insisted, while the reasons for the incident have not yet been established. The US Transportation Safety Agency (NTSB) is continuing its investigations.
Planes kept on the ground
Monday January 8, the United company, which owns the first fleet of 737 MAX 9s in the world (79 aircraft), indicated that it had discovered “bolts that needed to be tightened” during checks on the condemned doors of its 737 MAX 9s. , the same as the one torn off during the Alaska Airlines flight.
Locking certain doors is offered by Boeing to its customers when the number of existing emergency exits is already sufficient in relation to the number of seats in the aircraft. In addition to the 737 MAX 9, this device already exists on other Boeing models, notably the 737-900ER, launched in 2006 and which has not experienced any similar incidents since.
The FAA announced on Tuesday that “all Boeing 737-9s with an obstructed door [resteraient] on the ground as long as [l’agence] will not have established that they can be used again.” And continued: “Passenger safety, not speed [d’exécution des inspections] will determine the timetable for returning the 737 9 MAX to service.” Thus, some 171 of the 218 aircraft of this model in service are affected by the flight suspension ordered Saturday by the agency.
1500 flights canceled
Since the incident, Alaska Airlines and United have had to cancel a total of nearly 1,500 flights. This new setback, which follows a series of others in recent years, comes as Boeing was recovering its head and managed to improve its production rates by the end of 2023.
After delivering only 15 737 MAX planes in September, its lowest monthly total in two years, then 18 in October, the Arlington (Virginia) aircraft manufacturer climbed to 46 in November, then 44 in December, according to figures published this Tuesday.