Boeing's current situation is really adding insult to injury. On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States announced that it will investigate the front tire detachment incident on a Boeing 757 aircraft operated by Delta Air Lines.
The accident occurred last Saturday when the plane was preparing to take off from Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, USA to Bogota, Colombia. During takeoff taxiing, one of the front wheels of the aircraft became loose and fell off, rolling down the runway behind the aircraft and falling off the embankment.
The pilot and air traffic personnel subsequently had to terminate the flight and have maintenance personnel run to the incident site to search for tires, which in turn hindered the normal takeoff of other aircraft.
According to VASAviation, all other planes eventually changed course, and Delta's Boeing 757 was forced to wait on the runway for about three hours before being towed away. The passengers on board will take another plane to their original destination.
An endless stream of accidents
In the past month, Boeing has been deeply embroiled in a quality scandal. Earlier, a Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines experienced a door jam falling off during ascent, causing rapid pressure drop inside the cabin and even tearing the headrests on the seats. Subsequently, the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States intervened in the investigation and conducted inspections on all 737 series aircraft.
Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Miniucci revealed in an interview on Tuesday that during further inspections of Boeing 737 Max 9 series aircraft, the company discovered more loose bolts.
Minicucci also felt disappointed and discouraged as a result. He pointed out that airlines need to spend at least 10 hours inspecting the doors of aircraft, and this quality issue is constantly discovered in Boeing aircraft. How can Boeing ensure that the quality of the aircraft received by buyers meets the requirements?
Meanwhile, Boeing announced on Tuesday that it will suspend quality at its 737 factory in Washington state on Thursday. Boeing Commercial Aircraft CEO Stan Deal stated that production, delivery, and service support at the factory will be suspended for one day on Thursday to allow employees to attend quality focused meetings.
According to another memo, Boeing issued a notice to its suppliers late last week, specifying the correct tightening practices for bolts and recommending that suppliers record torque requirements in their work instructions, and mechanics ensure that bolts are tightened correctly.
However, while tightening quality requirements, Boeing seems to have no intention of slowing down production pace. According to an email sent by Zhou Boyin, Boeing still requires suppliers to produce 42 737 aircraft models per month starting from February.
But Wall Street speculates that stricter quality inspections will slow down production progress, which will be further confirmed when Boeing releases quarterly results on January 31st.