Posted on 01/25/2024 5:28:18 AM PST by Red Badger
Upon completion of the tests, airlines can return the planes to service.
The Federal Aviation Administration released final instructions to airlines to begin conducting inspections of their 737 Max 9 planes Wednesday -- a move that will eventually allow them to fly again.
The agency had grounded nearly 200 of the planes after an Alaska Airlines flight lost one of its door plugs mid-flight earlier this month.
Alaska Airlines released a statement Wednesday evening confirming its plans return some of its 737 MAX aircraft back to the skies on Friday following thorough inspection. "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday, Jan. 24, approved a thorough inspection and maintenance process for the 737-9 MAX aircraft. Alaska Airlines is ready to perform these detailed inspections of our planes," the statement read.
"Each of our aircraft will only return to service once the rigorous inspections are completed and each aircraft is deemed airworthy according to the FAA requirements. We have 65 737-9 MAX in our fleet. The inspections are expected to take up to 12 hours for each plane."
The statement continued, confirming Jan. 26 would be the date that select aircraft would return to operation. "Following these inspections by our skilled Alaska Maintenance technicians, we expect to bring our first few planes back into scheduled commercial service on Friday, Jan. 26."
On Jan. 5, the door plug fell out of the Alaska Airlines plane after it took off for Ontario, California, from Portland. Six crew members and 171 passengers were on board Flight 1282, the airline previously said.
"We grounded the Boeing 737-9 MAX within hours of the incident over Portland and made clear this aircraft would not go back into service until it was safe," FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement Wednesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Aviation Ping!...........
Quality ‘problems’ at Boeing................
Safety inspection of airliners before you fly them?
It’s a bold idea. But it just might work.
A good proxy for everything that is wrong with this country today.
A good proxy for everything that is wrong with this country today.
The US Navy recently replaced the P-3 Orion with the P-8 Poseidon.
While not the “Max” version, the P-8 is the 737 platform......which fly over my house every day. 😏
Inspect all you want but the fault falls on the fools installing the fasteners and essential hardware. Lack of training seems to be the problem.
DEI and die...
The P-8 is based on the 737-800 NG, which is shorter than the 737-900 NG and 737-9 MAX. It shouldn’t have those door plugs (which are there in case airlines want to max out on seating and convert the door plugs to working emergency exit doors) Also, the P-8 doesn’t have the bigger CFM LEAP engines like the MAX’s (so it shouldn’t have MCAS) The 737 NG’s are very safe planes. I think you should be okay.
I wasn’t referring specifically to the door plug issue.
The 737 is having other issues as well.
I was in aviation maintenance for 37 years and witnessed defects and failures affecting more than one platform for the same reason.....all it takes is one common part or process between the platforms, and common pzrts processes among multiple platforms is a normal part of manufacturing as it helps to keep costs down....retooling is expensive.
Other than the MCAS and now the door plug hardware issues, the only 737 problems I know about were uncommanded rudder hardover movements in the 737 Classic models but I think that was addressed with a new rudder PCU servo design. But if you were in aviation maintenance, which I was not, you obviously know more than me. (Now if you want to know about submarine maintenance…)
Just don’t be surprised if increased scrutiny on Boeing’s manufacturing processes and quality practices reveals other issues....I’d be more surprised if it didn’t.
(Harley motors were known for their vibration, which supposedly drove girls wild but also loosened all the bolts so the rider had to periodically retighten them)
Maybe a new joke is warranted for 737 operators?
The base aircraft for the P-8 is based on an early 1990s design, so the design itself is probably sound. Manufacturing is, of course and open question with anything Boeing is building these days.
If the Navy was going to abandon the Lockheed Electra, I always thought that Lockheed should have offered something based on the C-130 as an alternative.
My daughter was flying to Spokane from Australia the night the Boeing door flew off. I had now clue what she was flying and was worried until she got in.
I do know two retired Boeing workers, one a draftsman and the other a design engineer. Very competent, intelligent people, so what the heck happened at that formerly great company?
DEI........................
I concur.
That’s a shame. Maybe, they shouldn’t have retired all those white engineers telling them no, and doing DEI on the assembly floor. My Grandmother was a lead lady on the assembly floor with McD. They didn’t have quality control issues and planes that inherently wanted to crash back then.
Thanks Nikki (Namwrata) Haley.
I watched a video today that explained that the Spirit AeroSystems database did not mesh with the Boeing database so they could not see each others work and that Spirit AeroSystems had so many QA problems that they had fulltime workers at the Boeing plant to fix what came over from the Spirit AeroSystems plant.
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