New Warning About a Safety Flaw in the Fleet of Over Forty Airlines

The National Transportation Safety Board of the United States states that parts of the rudder of some Boeing 737 aircraft in the fleets of over forty international airlines may have issues that jeopardize flight safety. This association published a set of emergency safety recommendations last week after a long study regarding a problem that occurred seven months ago with a United Airlines Boeing 737. In that incident, the rudder control pedals of the United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 became stuck in the neutral position during landing at New York airport and failed. No injuries were reported among the 161 passengers on board. The agency also announced on Monday, October 1, that it had learned that two foreign airlines had faced similar incidents in 2019, five years ago. Jennifer Hamendy, the president of this association, expressed concern in a letter to Mike Whitaker, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, that some airlines might be unaware of this technical flaw in their Boeing 737s. The National Transportation Safety Board of the United States estimates that these problematic parts may exist in 271 operational aircraft from at least 40 international airlines and 16 domestic U.S. airlines. Additionally, about 75 of these parts may have been used as spare parts on other aircraft. Following the publication of this letter, Boeing's stock fell by 2.7%. Ms. Hamendy also expressed concern that the Federal Aviation Administration had not taken the issue seriously enough before the emergency safety recommendations were issued. On the other hand, the Federal Aviation Administration emphasized that it takes these recommendations seriously and plans to conduct further tests using a simulator this month. The FAA's review and corrective actions section has also stated that it intends to quickly inform all companies that operate aircraft with this defective part. United Airlines announced that these defective parts were present in only 9 of its aircraft, all of which have been replaced in recent months. Boeing also claimed two months ago that airlines operating Boeing 737 Max 8 and NG aircraft had been informed of the potential flaw in the rudder control system. This is the latest reported defect concerning Boeing's products. In recent years, defects in the aircraft produced by this company, including issues with navigation systems, fuselage, and wheels, have led to serious and sometimes fatal incidents. At least three former senior engineers of the company have testified about the 'negligence' of Boeing's management regarding safety and quality control of the company's products, a matter that has severely damaged the reputation of this aviation giant. Three months ago, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which had transported two experienced NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, also suffered a technical defect, including several helium leaks. In response, NASA officials decided to extend the astronauts' stay at the space station for safety reasons and return the Starliner to Earth without crew. This further damaged Boeing's credibility. Now, a spacecraft from Elon Musk's SpaceX is planned to bring back these astronauts.