In its harshest criticism yet of Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration announced today that it has given Boeing 90 days to come up with a comprehensive action plan to address its “systemic quality-control issues.”
New FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker laid out the ultimatum to Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun and his senior safety team at an all-day meeting Tuesday at FAA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“Boeing must commit to real and profound improvements,” Whitaker said after the meeting. “Making foundational change will require a sustained effort from Boeing’s leadership, and we are going to hold them accountable every step of the way, with mutually understood milestones and expectations.”
The FAA said the plan to fix quality problems must take into account both the results of the ongoing FAA production-line audit and findings released yesterday by the expert review panel commissioned by the FAA.
Boeing must also stabilize its Safety Management System, a formal safety program that previously Boeing had ocommitted to implement in 2019.
FAA also said that Boeing must integrate this program with its Quality Management System, to “ensure the same level of rigor and oversight is applied to the company’s suppliers.”
According to FAA, The goal is to create “a measurable, systemic shift in manufacturing quality control.”
“Boeing must take a fresh look at every aspect of their quality-control process and ensure that safety is the company’s guiding principle,” Whitaker said.
Reacting to FAA announcement, Boeing CEO Calhoun said “We have a clear picture of what needs to be done” and reaffirmed that the company’s leadership team “is totally committed to meeting this challenge.”
“Boeing will develop the comprehensive action plan with measurable criteria that demonstrates the profound change that Administrator Whitaker and the FAA demand,” Calhoun said.
Alaska Airlines door blowout incident caused FAA reaction
The strong language in the FAA release shows that FAA has no patience left after a large number of quality problems at Boeing across all programs but especially the 737MAX aircraft.
The in-flight blowout of a fuselage door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX9 last month
left a hole in the passenger cabin at 16,000 feet over Portland.
Though the pilot landed quickly and injuries were minor, the incident left passengers traumatised. Fortunately, the door plug was blown out while the aircraft was still climbing at 16000 ft. The incident could have ended much more tragically if the blowout had come at cruise altitude of 37000 ft.
A preliminary report on Alaska incident by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that four retainer bolts required to prevent the fuselage panel from coming off were not put back after the panel was opened at Boeing’s Renton plant where 737 MAX final assembly work takes place. The work in question was done by Boeing employees and not a contractor.
The report of the expert panel identified substantive upgrades needed to improve Boeing’s quality and safety systems and directed the company to develop an action plan within six months. Yesterday, the FAA cut that deadline to just three months revealing that they are fast losing patience with Boeing.
FAA statement on Wednesday did not clarify what penalty will be applied if Boeing doesn’t comply with the FAA requirement.
However, FAA has already put a stop to Boeing’s planned ramp-up of 737 MAX production, capping the rate at 38/month. This severely impedes Boeing's competitiveness as arch-rival is rolling out 45 aircraft/month of the competing A320 family and is planning to increase it further to a blazing 55/month. FAA is also exploring the possibility of using an external third party to do some of the oversight conducted internally by Boeing engineers.
Apart from looking at the quality issues at Boeing, FAA is also investigating the fuselage blowout incident on the Alaska 737 MAX9 aircraft.
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