About a month ago, during a flight with a Boeing 737-9 Max, a part of the fuselage broke out of the aircraft shortly after takeoff. Investigators now have initial insights into how this could have happened.
According to US accident investigators, necessary fasteners were missing from the fuselage part of a Boeing 737-9 Max that was recently torn out. The condition of the fragment and the adjacent fuselage elements indicate the absence of four bolts in a securing mechanism, the NTSB said in a preliminary report. The finding is likely to increase pressure on Boeing to dramatically improve quality controls. At the same time, the NTSB did not yet draw any conclusions about the cause of the dramatic incident.
On January 5th, shortly after take-off, a part of the fuselage broke off in the climb of the almost new 737-9 Max from Alaska Airlines with more than 170 people on board. Instead, some configurations of the more seat type have a door. The affected variant of the 737-9 Max instead has a cover that closes the opening. No one was seriously injured in the incident – however, by a lucky coincidence, the two seats directly at the opening remained empty.
After the incident, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other authorities ordered all 170 similar aircraft of the type to be grounded for investigations. Alaska and United Airlines also found loose fasteners in the area on other planes. It was not until the end of January that the FAA released the procedure for inspections, after which the aircraft were allowed to take off again. No aircraft of the affected model are in use by EU airlines.
After the incident, the FAA announced stricter controls at Boeing – and some airlines also want to send their own inspectors to the production lines. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun admitted responsibility for the incident and assured that the company would improve quality oversight. The fuselage of the 737 models is built by the supplier Spirit Aerosystems and then comes to Boeing for final assembly.
Source: Stern
