Preliminary document suggests that an accident on an aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines on January 7 was caused by poor fixing of the door to the fuselage
A new report from NTSB (US National Transportation Safety Board, in Portuguese) suggests that the door that detached from a Boeing 737 Max shortly after takeoff may have been poorly secured. According to the agency, preliminary analyzes indicate the absence of 4 screws that should hold the door to the fuselage.
At the factory Boeingthe plane's panel was removed due to damage during production, but when it was reinstalled, at least 3 of the 4 security screws were not replaced, suggests the report. The lack of screws would have resulted in the door panel shifting, causing it to detach from the aircraft during flight.
The airline faces regulatory scrutiny after the plug on an emergency door on a Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines detached in flight on January 7th.
This incident also involved a fuselage supplied by Spirit AeroSystems, which is accused by Boeing of having incorrectly drilled the fuselage of 50 planes not yet delivered. On Monday (Feb 5), the company reported that holes in the fuselages had not been made in accordance with Boeing's requirements.
In response to the report released this Tuesday (Feb 6), Boeing stated that it is responsible for the incident. “An event like this should not occur on a plane leaving our factory. We must simply do better for our customers and their passengers.”declared the president of the North American manufacturer, Dave Calhoun.
“We are implementing a comprehensive plan to strengthen quality and trust with our stakeholders”he added.
The company had already acknowledged blame for the incident on January 9, 2 days after the episode with the Alaska Airlines plane. At the time, Calhoun said the company would address the incident with “complete transparency at every step” of the investigation.
With production halted in the United States by order of the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), the 737 Max, which entered into operation in 2017, has accumulated problems in recent years.
In 2020, the model was released to fly after a 2-year ban due to 2 accidents in Ethiopia and Indonesia – in 2018 and 2019, respectively – that killed 346 people.
#Report #missing #screws #Boeing #plane #door
