The prestige and credibility of the Boeing company has been irreparably damaged, as the forced landing of its aircraft due to various problems is about to become a frequent phenomenon, endangering the lives of the passengers.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched a new investigation into Boeing after the company voluntarily informed the agency that it may not have completed required inspections of certain technical procedures on a certain 787 Dreamliner, an FAA spokesman said.
The agency (FAA) confirmed to US network FOX in an official statement that it is investigating whether Boeing completed inspections and whether company employees falsified aircraft records. This is another ominous development for the American aircraft giant which is one step away from collapse.
Three out of four Boeing commercial aircraft models under investigation
It is noted that Boeing is going through a difficult period as three out of four models of commercial aircraft manufactured by the company today are officially the subject of an investigation by the American Civil Aviation Service (FAA), among them the 787 “Dreamliner”.
A tire on a Boeing plane carrying 249 passengers and crew flew off while departing from San Francisco International Airport and landed on an empty parked car. No one was injured and the flight was diverted to Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/xtNwKlANQf
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) March 8, 2024
At the same time, the United Arab Emirates, one of the largest customers of the American aerospace giant, is calling on Boeing to “come to its senses” and take immediate action to address the security crisis, which is constantly worsening.
The problems have dented the confidence of passengers, while they have also caused serious delays in deliveries.
“We are not happy with what is happening, we always wanted to see this aircraft enter our fleet as we were promised. But there is a long delay,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Said Maktoum, chairman and CEO of Emirates airline, told CNBC. Having ordered 245 passenger jets, the United Arab Emirates is perhaps Boeing’s most important customer.
In the first quarter of 2024, however, the American company’s deliveries fell to the lowest levels since mid-2021, as it had to manage a series of incidents, the most serious of which was the detachment of part of the fuselage from a 737 Max 9 in flight last January.
When did the passenger crisis of confidence begin?
On January 5, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX-9 flying from Portland to Ontario, California was forced to make an emergency landing in Oregon after a door stopper blew off mid-flight, causing rapid decompression. Fortunately, no one was sitting next to the faulty door and the pilots were able to land the plane without harm to the passengers.
But the incident opened a Pandora’s box of questions and mistrust about the safety of Boeing aircraft.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has temporarily grounded most of Boeing’s 737 MAX-9 aircraft following the Alaska Airlines incident.
Europe was spared the no-fly order as the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) stated that “no airline in an EASA Member State currently operates an aircraft with the relevant configuration.
On March 4, a United Airlines Boeing 737-900 flight from Texas to Florida was forced to make an emergency landing after flames erupted from one of the plane’s engines.
On March 7, an American Airlines Boeing 777 bound for Japan made an emergency landing in California after the crew reported a flat tire.
Transair 737-300 substantially damaged after overrunning the runway while landing at Dakar Airport, Senegal. 73 passengers were able to evacuate with minor injuries. pic.twitter.com/s82XZ3hdkj
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) May 9, 2024
And on March 11, at least 50 people were injured after a LATAM Airlines Boeing 787 plummeted midway between Sydney and Auckland, a crash possibly caused by a seat accident that pushed a pilot into the controls, the Wall newspaper reported. Street Journal. After this latest incident, Boeing instructed airlines that operate 787 planes to check the seats in the cockpit.
Problems on two Boeings in two days
Today, in Senegal, another Boeing 737 had trouble taking off, ran off the runway and came to rest in bushes, injuring 11 passengers, four of them seriously. According to the Daily Mail newspaper, a total of 78 people were on board the Transair aircraft. Videos and photos posted on social media show the damage to the left engine of the aircraft.
Yesterday, a FedEx Airlines Boeing 767 freighter made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport without the front landing gear but managed to stay on the runway, the Turkish Transport Ministry said, clarifying that there were no injuries.
The Boeing 767, which was flying from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, informed the control tower at Istanbul Airport that the landing gear did not open and landed according to the instructions of the control tower, the transport ministry said in a statement.
Ex-Boeing expert reveals serious flaws in aircraft fuselages
An Air France Boeing 787 had to make an emergency landing in Canada pic.twitter.com/YR32ad01in
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) May 8, 2024
Many Boeing fuselages that regularly left the factory of Spirit AeroSystems – the largest supplier of the American aircraft giant – were defective, as a former quality inspector of the company reveals to the BBC.
In statements to the British network, Santiago Paredes, who worked at the Kansas-based company from 2010 to 2022, said that on several occasions, he had found up to 200 defects in various components that were being prepared for shipment to Boeing.
Paredes, who previously worked as a US Air Force technician, was used to finding “from 50 to 100, even 200” defects in the fuselages – considered the main body of the plane – that were to be sent to Boeing.
“I was finding a lot of missing links, a lot of bent parts, sometimes even missing parts,” he said.
He also stressed to the British network that some of the defects he found while at the Spirit factory were minor, while others were more serious.
For its part, the company was pressuring him not to be so strict with the controls.
The former quality inspector’s testimony is part of his testimony in legal action brought against the company by disgruntled shareholders. However, in legal documents he is simply referred to as “former employee 1”.
“They always made a fuss because I found what was flawed, because I looked at it,” he said.
According to Santiago Paredes, both companies were aware of the extent of the problem with the defective parts.
The issue had even been brought up in weekly meetings between quality inspectors from both companies.
And when he complained about the issue, he was demoted and removed to another part of the factory.
Boeing is restructuring
Boeing to proceed with restructuring in order to strengthen the prestige and regain the trust of the passenger public
The company recently decided to restructure as it faces a slew of quality, safety and production problems and increased pressure from airlines, regulators and investors following the mid-air explosion of a door panel on a 737 MAX aircraft. (happened on January 5).
Two former employees were found dead
Meanwhile, two former Boeing employees who had raised “concerns” about quality and safety problems on the production line have been found dead in recent weeks.
In mid-March, John Barnett, a 32-year Boeing employee who tried to highlight production problems before leaving the company in 2017, was found dead in South Carolina. Barnett had spoken to the media after the panel explosion incident at Boeing 737 MAX 9 which forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing.
John Barnett was found dead from self-inflicted injuries, authorities said, citing suicide. His lawyer said he was scheduled to testify in a lawsuit involving the 787 Dreamliner.
On May 2, Joshua Dean, 45, a former quality inspector at Spirit AeroSystems, a Boeing supplier, died of a sudden and rapidly developing infection. He was one of the first senior employees to allege that Spirit AeroSystems management ignored the 737 MAX’s manufacturing defects.
Joshua Dean had testified in a Spirit shareholder lawsuit and also filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration alleging “serious and egregious violations on the 737 production line by senior quality control officials” at Spirit. Spirit fired Dean in April 2023 and had filed a complaint with the Department of Labor alleging that his firing was in retaliation for his complaints.
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