Tag: Boeing 737 Max 9

New Zealand to seize black boxes from LATAM Boeing 787 flight that dropped abruptly mid-air

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission said on Tuesday it was seizing the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of a LATAM Airlines Boeing 787 after an incident that left more than 50 people injured.

The airline and passengers aboard the Sydney-Auckland flight on Monday said the plane with 263 passengers and nine crew members on board dropped abruptly mid-air.

“My neighbour who was in the seat two over from me, there was a gap in between us, as soon as I woke I looked and he was on the ceiling and I thought I was dreaming,” Brian Adam Jokat, a Canadian citizen residing in the UK who was travelling on the plane, said on Tuesday.

Photos taken by Jokat after the incident showed damage sustained to the ceiling of the airplane where he said fellow passengers had hit it.

The New Zealand accident investigator said Chilean authorities had confirmed they had opened a probe into the flight, and it was assisting with their enquiries.

A spokesperson for TAIC said because the incident occurred in international airspace it fell to Chilean accident investigation authority Direccion General de Aeronautica Civil (DGAC) to open an inquiry.

LATAM is based in Chile and the flight was due to continue on to Santiago after stopping in Auckland.

“TAIC is in the process of gathering evidence relevant to the inquiry, including seizing the cockpit voice and flight data recorders,” the New Zealand agency said, referring to the so-called “black boxes” that will provide more information on the flight’s trajectory and communications between pilots.

DGAC said in a statement it was working with TAIC on the investigation.

LATAM did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it had given the black boxes to TAIC. The airline said earlier on Tuesday it would assist the relevant authorities on any investigation into the “strong shake” during the flight.

The cause of the apparent sudden change in trajectory of the flight is currently unexplained. Safety experts say most airplane accidents are caused by a cocktail of factors that need to be thoroughly investigated.

New Zealand‘s Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement it would also assist in the investigation if required.

There has been renewed debate over the length of cockpit recordings in the aviation industry since it was revealed voice recorder data on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet that lost a panel mid-flight in January was overwritten.

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$1 billion lawsuit filed against Boeing and Alaska Airlines for terrifying mid-flight incident

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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An aviation firm has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Boeing and Alaska Airlines on behalf of three Portland passengers who were aboard Flight 1282, a section that detached mid-flight, necessitating an emergency landing at PDX. The incident occurred in January.

Jonathan W. Johnson LLC, representing the three passengers — Kyle Rinker, Amanda Strickland, and Kevin Kwok — said in a press release that they were seated two rows diagonally behind a 15-year-old boy whose shirt was sucked off during the rapid depressurisation.

The lawsuit claims that Alaska Airlines had identified the issue with the plane before the incident but failed to conduct further inspections before putting it into service. The firm is seeking to hold Boeing accountable for its negligence, which caused extreme panic, fear, and post-traumatic stress among the 174 passengers and six crew members onboard.

Boeing’s CEO, David Calhoun, expressed being “shaken to the bone” upon hearing about this avoidable accident that endangered hundreds of innocent lives. He emphasised that further inspections should have been conducted before the aircraft was placed in service.

Due to these factors, the complainant is suing Boeing for punitive damages, not only because the tragedy was preventable but also because many other Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft were impacted by the manufacturing flaws, necessitating the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) temporary grounding and inspection of each aircraft.

According to FlightAware, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 departed from Portland International Airport just before 5 pm PT on January 5. The flight returned safely to its departure point as part of an emergency landing about 40 minutes later. The incident occurred approximately six minutes into the planned trip to California, with the aircraft flying at 16,000 feet when one of its exit doors came loose.

Despite the safe landing back in Portland, several passengers sustained minor injuries and lost phones and other personal items that were sucked out of the hole in the aircraft. According to passenger Kelly Bartlett, who spoke to CBS News after the incident, another passenger, a teenager originally seated with his mother in the row beside the affected door panel, had his shirt ripped off by the strength of the wind coming through.

A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation and Safety Board into the incident revealed that four key bolts meant to hold the door plug in place were missing from the aircraft. The report from the agency, which was issued in early February, stated that before the MED plug moved upward off the stop pads, four bolts that were intended to prevent such upward movement were missing.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Why the door blew out on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 flight, according to a new report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Four bolts that were supposed to hold the door of the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane were missing in the Alaska Airlines flight which saw the door blow out midair, at about 16,000 feet, on January 5.

That’s the finding in the preliminary report filed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the US.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US aviation regulator, ordered a temporary global grounding of all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes for inspection after the incident.

There were five damaged rivets near the door plug, which had been installed by supplier Spirit AeroSystems, when the plane arrived at Boeing’s factory near Seattle, according to the NTSB report.

Earlier on Tuesday (February 7), Mike Whitaker, the new chief FAA, shared a bleak view of the attention paid to safety measures by Boeing, one of the world’s largest makers of commercial flights, as well as defence and security systems.

“There have been issues in the past. They don’t seem to be getting resolved, so we feel like we need to have a heightened level of oversight,” Whitaker, who took charge of the agency three months ago, told a White House subcommittee.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Atlas Air Boeing 747 cargo plane makes emergency landing in Miami after engine fire

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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An Atlas Air Boeing 747-8 cargo plane made an emergency landing in Miami late Thursday shortly after departure after suffering an engine fire.

The plane with five crew members safely returned and no injuries were reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. The FAA said a post-flight inspection showed a softball-size hole above the engine, while the NTSB said it “has opened an investigation and is collecting information to evaluate and determine scope of the investigation.”

Unverified videos on social media platform X showed flames shooting out of the left wing of the aircraft while in flight.

“The crew followed all standard procedures and safely returned to (Miami International),” the air freight company said, adding that it would conduct an inspection to find the cause.

Boeing said it is supporting Atlas and “will support the NTSB investigation into this incident.”

The Atlas Boeing 747-8 is eight years old, according to the FAA and is powered by four General Electric GEnx engines.

GE Aerospace said is providing technical assistance to the FAA and the NTSB as they investigate.

The engine failure comes against the backdrop of two high-profile jetliner accidents this year.

An Airbus A350 passenger plane operated by Japan Airlines collided with a Coast Guard aircraft in Tokyo, killing five crew members on Jan. 2.

A few days later, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet made an emergency landing following a cabin panel blowout, which prompted the FAA to temporarily ground 171 jets for safety checks.

Snag occurred on the climb

The Atlas Air Flight was headed for San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Miami International Airport late Thursday.

The pilot made an emergency call to report an engine fire and requested to return to the airport, according to multi-channel recordings of conversations between air traffic control and the plane available on liveatc.net.

“We have a engine fire,” one of the plane crew said, adding the fire occurred “on the climb out” of the airport.

Atlas Air, whose customers include parcel delivery giants DHL and FedEx, went private last year when it was bought by a group led by private equity Apollo Global Management.

A freighter version of the last commercial Boeing jumbo was delivered to Atlas Air last year.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Alaska and United halt more flights amid Boeing’s quality investigation

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Alaska Airlines said on Wednesday it would cancel all flights on 737 MAX 9 jets through Saturday as it continues to wait for regulatory approvals to resume flying after a cabin panel blowout Boeing suggested was caused by a “quality” issue.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Saturday grounded 171 Boeing jets installed with the same panel after the emergency landing, including Alaska Airlines’ 65 MAX 9s.

The move has forced the cancellation of about 20% of the Seattle-based airline’s daily schedule for five consecutive days and 150 flights for Thursday.

United Airlines, the other US 737 MAX 9 operator with 79 of the planes in its fleet, said it had canceled 167 flights on Wednesday and expected “significant” cancellations on Thursday as well.

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg declined to say on Wednesday when the FAA may allow the planes to resume flights but said it would only be when safe.

“The only consideration on the timeline is safety,” Buttigieg told reporters. “Until it is ready, it is not ready. Nobody can or should be rushed in that process.”

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told CNBC on Wednesday that a “quality escape” was at issue in the MAX 9 cabin blowout that left a gaping hole in the plane that had been in service for just eight weeks, but added key questions remained.

“What broke down in our gauntlet of inspections? What broke down in the original work that allowed for that escape to happen?” Calhoun said.

A quality escape was “a description of what people are finding in their inspections… anything that could potentially contribute to an accident,” he added.

Boeing on Tuesday told staff the findings were being treated as a “quality control issue” and checks were under way at Boeing and supplier Spirit AeroSystems, Reuters reported previously.

Calhoun said he had spoken to Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker to ensure there was no repeat of the cabin panel blowout on any MAX 9 after Friday’s incident.

The grounding has rekindled frustration among airlines over the planemaker’s struggle to contain a series of safety and supply crises, industry officials and experts said.

INSPECTION INSTRUCTIONS NEEDED

Alaska Airlines and United said on Monday they had found loose parts on multiple grounded aircraft, raising new concerns among industry experts about how Boeing’s best-selling jet family is manufactured.

The carriers still need revised inspection and maintenance instructions from Boeing that must be approved by the FAA before they can begin flying the planes again.

“We will only return these aircraft to service when all findings have been fully resolved and meet all FAA and Alaska’s stringent standards,” Alaska Airlines said.

The International Association of Machinists (IAM), a union representing workers at fuselage maker Spirit and at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington that produces the 737, has been appointed a party to the US National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigation, an IAM spokesperson said on Wednesday evening.

The spokesperson did not provide further details. The NTSB confirmed the IAM’s involvement.

Spirit’s interim CEO Patrick Shanahan was in Seattle over the weekend at Boeing’s invitation in a crisis room “listening to all of what we are trying to collect in the production process, taken it back to his team, interrogating their processes, alongside of our people,” Calhoun said.

Spirit said on Wednesday a company team was now supporting the NTSB’s investigation directly, adding it remained “focused on the quality of each aircraft structure that leaves our facilities.”

The NTSB is focusing in part on whether the recovered cabin panel that blew off had been properly attached.

Buttigieg said he told Calhoun how important it was for Boeing to address the issue in the MAX 9 and to ensure every plane it delivered was “100% safe.”

Buttigieg said the FAA “will continue with a very, very strict level of oversight” to ensure that.

The transportation secretary said he had also spoken to the United and Alaska Airlines CEOs and they agreed to take care of passengers whose flights have been canceled because of the grounding.

Buttigieg said the dramatic photos of the gaping hole led him to think what he would have done in that circumstance, which NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy described as “terrifying”.

“I was on a plane a day or two later, with my two-year-old son sitting in the window seat next to me,” Buttigieg said. “No passengers should go through what those passengers went through.”

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Boeing takes first step to ungrounding the 737 Max 9 after mishap

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Boeing Co. took the first step toward returning its grounded 737 Max 9 jetliners to service, issuing guidance to airlines on what inspections are needed to prevent another midair fuselage blowout like the one on Alaska Airlines late last week.

Before the Federal Aviation Administration will allow the planes to return to the air, carriers must “complete enhanced inspections which include both left and right cabin door exit plugs, door components, and fasteners,” the FAA said in a statement. “Operators must also complete corrective action requirements based on findings from the inspections prior to bringing any aircraft back into service.”

Alaska Air Group Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc., the two biggest operators of the Max 9 variant, had earlier parked those aircraft after the Jan. 5 accident, canceling hundreds of flights.

On Monday, United said it found loose bolts in multiple 737 Max jets after it began preliminary inspections on Saturday. But the carrier said it couldn’t yet carry out the final inspections needed to return the jets to service since it’s awaiting final sign-off on the full inspection process. The work will likely be more intensive than US regulators first signaled. United said it expects to have teams of five technicians working for “several hours” on each aircraft, although the length of timing required won’t be clear until the airline’s mechanics have completed work on more aircraft.

The Alaska Airlines mishap occurred when a door-shaped panel ripped out as Flight 1282 climbed out of Portland, Oregon. The aircraft reached an altitude of about 16,000 feet before turning around and landing back in Portland about 20 minutes after takeoff. No one was seriously injured, an outcome National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said was pure luck.

Boeing shares fell 8% in New York, their biggest decline since October 2022. Supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., which makes the fuselage for the 737, slid 11%.

As Boeing contends with the latest blow to the reputation of its cash cow Max family, Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun canceled an annual executive retreat that was to have begun on Monday. Boeing leaders urged employees to tune in to an all-hands safety meeting to be webcast on Tuesday from the Renton factory where the 737 jets are built.

Stan Deal, Boeing’s commercial airplanes chief, and Mike Delaney, the company’s chief safety officer, urged staff to ask “ourselves what we can do individually and collectively to make safety and first-time quality the priority in all aspects of our business.”

The two executives sent employees a message confirming that the multi-operator message had been shared with airlines. They noted that the assembly of the door plug that’s being inspected is not found on other jets in the 737 Max family.

The latest incident, coming after a series of manufacturing and quality lapses at Boeing, erodes the nascent confidence that has been building around the company’s workhorse single-aisle jet, Bank of America analyst Ron Epstein said.

“In our view, Boeing needs to tread carefully and cautiously through this potential reputational minefield,” he said in a note to clients on Sunday. “Some scrutiny must be saved for regulators as well, as the FAA is ultimately responsible for certificating these aircraft before delivery.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow