Boeing has ordered inspections of its entire fleet of grounded 737 Max planes after it found debris in the fuel tanks of some of the aircraft, in the latest setback for the US plane-maker.
The specialist aviation blog Leeham News, which first reported the discovery of the “foreign object debris” (FOD), said it was unlikely that the inspections would delay the recertification of the jets. However, it will take up to three days to inspect each plane because fuel must be drained and vapours dissipated before the fuel tanks can be opened.
Mark Jenks, the general manager of the 737 programme, said in a memo to employees that the debris was “absolutely unacceptable” and that the company was taking steps to address the problem in its production system.
(May 22, 2017) Boeing 737 Max enters commercial service
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(October 29, 2018) Lion Air crash
Lion Air flight JT610 crashes after making a sudden, sharp dive into the Java Sea 13 minutes after departing from Jakarta, Indonesia. All 189 people onboard are killed. That particular plane had been in use for less than three months. The plane's black box recorder reveals that the Lion Air plane had experienced problems with its airspeed indicators on its last four flights.
(November 7, 2018) Boeing's new advice
Boeing issues revised instructions on how pilots should react to erroneous readings from “angle of attack” sensors, believed to be a key factor in the Lion Air crash.
(March 10, 2019) Ethiopia Airlines crash
Flight ET302 crashes about six minutes after taking off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people onboard. The captain had reported difficulties, and flight radar data shows the aircraft was climbing erratically with an unstable vertical airspeed.
(March 13, 2019) Boeing grounds fleet
The EU, Canada and the US all ground the Boeing 737 Max. Boeing itself issues a statement saying it “continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 Max”, but that “out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public” it w recommending the grounding of the entire global fleet of 371 aircraft.
(April 4, 2019) Interim report findings
The interim report into the Ethiopian Airlines crash finds that the pilots correctly followed Boeing’s emergency instructions, but were still unable to stop the plane’s nose repeatedly pointing down. The jet hit an airspeed of 500 knots (575mph), well above its operational limits, before cockpit data recordings stopped.
(June 27, 2019) A new potential risk
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(July 10, 2019) Airbus soars
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(July 15, 2019) Name change rumours
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(October 30, 2019) Sensor concerns ignored
During congressional hearings into Boeing’s handling of the crisis, lawmakers were shown internal records revealing that three years before the crashes an employee had expressed concern that an anti-stall flight system could be triggered by a single sensor.
(January 10, 2020)
The crisis deepens with the release of hundreds of internal messages between employees working on the 737 Max aircraft, which boasted of deceiving safety regulators and said the plane had been “designed by clowns”.
(February 19, 2020)
Boeing orders inspections of its entire fleet of grounded 737 Max planes after it found foreign object debris in the fuel tanks of some of the mothballed planes.
“During these challenging times, our customers and the flying public are counting on us to do our best work each and every day,” Jenks said, adding: “One escape is one too many.”
Debris was discovered in the wing fuel tanks of undelivered Max planes during routine inspections at Boeing facilities in Washington state and Texas where the Max jets are being stored. The company has not disclosed how many planes were affected.
The company has had recent issues with debris – including tools and rags – found in its 787 Dreamliners and KC-46A military refueling tankers. Those issues have led to two suspensions of deliveries of KC-46As to the US air force.
It is less than a year since the second fatal crash of a Boeing 737 Max resulted in the grounding of the model’s entire global fleet and the company is racing to recertify with regulators that the planes can fly safely.
The fuel tank problem is unrelated to the flaws to sensors thought to have contributed towards the two crashes.
Boeing built about 400 of the planes, which it could not deliver to customers, and its orders have suffered after it was forced to cut back production at its factory near Seattle.
Foreign object debris, an industrial term for rags, tools, metal shavings and other materials left behind by workers during the production process, can raise the risk of electrical short-circuiting and fires.
At a Congressional hearing about the Max crashes last December former Boeing executive Ed Pierson described conditions at the company’s Renton, Washington facility as “chaotic” and said he had reported “serious concerns about production quality” to management, warnings that were ignored.
Last year a New York Times investigation found debris problems at another Boeing factory in North Carolina including piles of titanium shavings close to electrical equipment and, in one instance, a ladder and a string of lights left inside the tail of a plane.
The Boeing spokesman said the Max’s latest issue would not change the company’s belief that the Federal Aviation Administration would certify the plane to fly again this summer.
An FAA spokesman said the agency knows that Boeing is conducting a voluntary inspection of undelivered Max planes.
Agencies contributed to this story.
