Following are edited excerpts from
a current report in The Guardian:
Agency head says the FAA will significantly increase oversight of Boeing after last week’s cabin blowout incidentThe US’s top air transportation regular, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), will significantly increase oversight of Boeing, the agency said on Friday, with the head of the FAA saying they believe
there are “other manufacturing problems” at the company.The FAA will conduct a new audit of the Boeing 737 9 Max production line and its suppliers, the agency said in a statement, after a panel broke off an aircraft while in mid-flight, prompting a dramatic emergency landing on Friday. The FAA administrator, Mike Whitaker, told CNBC
the new 737 Max 9 aircraft model had “significant problems” and “we believe there are other manufacturing problems”.The incident was the latest in a series of events that have shaken confidence in the aircraft manufacturer as it tries to recover from a pair of 737 Max 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people.
Boeing did not immediately comment.
The announcement of the audit to ensure compliance with approved quality procedures comes a day after the FAA announced a formal investigation into the cabin panel blowout of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 that led to the agency grounding 171 airplanes last week. The FAA said the results of the audit “will determine whether additional audits are necessary”.
The FAA said it would also re-examine its decision to delegate some responsibilities to Boeing and consider moving some functions under independent, third-party entities.“The grounding of the 737-9 and the multiple production-related issues identified in recent years require us to look at every option to reduce risk,” Whitaker said in a statement.
Whitaker declined to put any timetable on whether the FAA might approve the inspection and maintenance instructions that would allow airlines to begin returning 737 Max 9 planes to service.
Most of the 200-plus 737 Max 9 planes used by airlines have a panel in place of an exit door. Of those, 171 have been grounded.
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the other major US carrier that operates 737 Max 9 planes with that configuration, said they have found loose parts on multiple grounded aircraft during preliminary checks, raising new concerns about how Boeing’s bestselling jet family is manufactured.
Note: Text emphasis was added in the section above.
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Following are extensively edited excerpts from a current NPR report:
The Federal Aviation Administration says it will increase its oversight of Boeing and its suppliers, and will re-examine the longstanding practice of allowing company employees to perform some safety analysis of its planes.
Regulators at the FAA say they will begin auditing the production of Boeing's 737 Max 9 planes after a panel blew off an Alaska Airline flight in midair last week. The agency also said it would assess the safety risks of having delegated some of its oversight authority to Boeing.
"It is time to re-examine the delegation of authority and assess any associated safety risks," FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement Friday. "The grounding of the 737-9 and the multiple production-related issues identified in recent years require us to look at every option to reduce risk."
Reassessing authority is "long overdue"
The FAA has long outsourced some of its oversight to authorized Boeing employees, despite criticism from safety advocates. Defenders of the practice say the FAA has limited resources and so it has to depend on the expertise of Boeing and other manufacturers for self-certification.
Regulators now say they will consider whether to move quality oversight and inspections to an independent third party. "It's something that's long overdue," said David Soucie, a former FAA safety inspector and the author of the book Why Planes Crash.
"This is a very smart move by the FAA" to consider moving safety oversight to an independent third party, he said in an interview with NPR. Soucie cautioned, however, that following through on a shift to third-party oversight would be a heavy lift for the FAA and the aviation industry it regulates.
"They're taking their time doing it because the impact of what they're discussing doing here is huge," Soucie said. "It's enormous. It will affect every manufacturer in the United States that manufactures anything to do with aircraft."
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the increased oversight from the FAA.
Your tax dollars at work! ORK! Talk about REGULATORY CAPTURE! This is a step beyond even that. They just trusted the manufacturer to do the Agency's work FOR the Agency. Can you say, "under-funded regulatory Agencies, boys and girls?" I just KNEW you could....
Blame the Repugnant Insurgency Party. Plain and simple. Ronny Ray-guns and Gingrich the Newt. This is nothing NEW. And still, there are those who figure we just ought to trust Big Money to police themselves, among themselves. Cripes!