Boeing Safety Protocols Aren’t Working, Says FAA

The FAA Administrator Chief Mark Whitaker has said the current safety systems at Boeing are clearly not working as they should.

This stance follows new details emerging around the Alaska Airlines door blowout incident, with the NTSB saying bolts were likely not installed.

The FAA’s Investigation

Comments such as these come as the Federal Aviation Administration thoroughly reviews Boeing’s manufacturing processes.

This investigation was launched in response to the Alaska Airlines 737-9 incident and to airline technicians’ further identification of loose bolts during subsequent inspections.

Ultimately, the investigation is expected to take six weeks and will focus on several plants where Boeing conducts work and also a focus on Spirit AeroSystems. Even once their audit is completed, the FAA says the likelihood that they will still have people inspecting the planemaker is high.

The FAA feels it must have additional layers of oversight into Boeing because this isn’t one incident but a string of continued quality problems surfacing.

Quality Control Problem

Meanwhile, the NTSB, investigating the circumstances of what took place aboard the Alaska Airlines 737-9 flight, says that a very visible quality control problem is impacting Boeing.

Interestingly, however, the NTSB says it will look at Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration and their oversight into how Boeing can get a plane such as this delivered with safety-critical bolts missing.

Boeing’s work to change its culture and image will take time. Over the past four years, many have argued that they were slowly changing their ways; however, that’s seemingly come undone once more.