On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) instructed The Boeing Co. to rectify its underlying quality-control problems. Mike Whitaker, the FAA Administrator, asked Boeing to formulate a detailed plan to fix these issues and adhere to the FAA's strict safety standards.
Boeing has been allowed a window of 90 days to present the plan, keeping in mind the forthcoming FAA production-line audit results and the recent findings from the expert review panel report.
The FAA's directive was initiated after an incident in early January when a panel unlatched from a Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft during a flight. Besides addressing this specific occurrence, Boeing is ordered to bolster its Safety Management System and merge it with a Quality Management System to assure uniform supervision across its suppliers. These steps are intended to result in visible enhancements in manufacturing quality control.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) unveiled a tentative report hinting that the panel's detachment was due to the critical bolts being taken out during the manufacturing stage at Boeing's Renton facility, implying they might not have been placed back.
This discovery has prompted the FAA to adopt a stern attitude towards Boeing, freezing the production expansion of the 737 Max series until all quality-control problems are substantially solved. Moreover, the FAA has instigated audits of Boeing's Max production and an examination into the company’s compliance with manufacturing standards.
