Boeing officials explained their plan to improve manufacturing quality and safety during a three-hour meeting with federal officials, who will continue restrictions they placed on the company after one of its jetliners suffered a blowout of a fuselage panel in January. Federal Aviation Administration chief Mike Whitaker said the plan is comprehensive and includes encouraging Boeing employees to speak up about safety concerns.
Quick Read
- Boeing officials presented a plan to improve manufacturing quality and safety during a three-hour meeting with federal officials, who will maintain restrictions on the company after a fuselage panel blowout in January.
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Mike Whitaker praised the comprehensive plan, which encourages Boeing employees to speak up about safety concerns, calling it a “guide for a new way for Boeing to do business.”
- Boeing released an 11-page summary of its “Product Safety and Quality Plan,” detailing steps such as increased inspections and tighter supplier controls, and outlining how the company will measure improvement.
- CEO David Calhoun, set to step down at the end of the year, emphasized that the plan incorporates feedback from employees, the FAA, airlines, and independent experts, with many actions already underway.
- Stephanie Pope, a potential successor to Calhoun and newly promoted chief operating officer and CEO of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, highlighted the plan’s focus on improving employee training, simplifying manufacturing, eliminating defects at the source, and enhancing safety and quality culture.
- The January 5 blowout of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 was caused by missing bolts after a repair job, leading to civil and criminal investigations and a directive for Boeing to develop the comprehensive plan.
- Whitaker noted that the FAA will continue to cap production of the 737 Max and require approval for each plane off the assembly line, with increased safety inspections at Boeing and key supplier Spirit AeroSystems’ plants.
- Boeing’s recent issues include potential criminal prosecution related to the crashes of two Max jetliners in 2018 and 2019, with the Justice Department alleging Boeing violated terms of a 2021 fraud settlement.
- Whistleblowers have accused Boeing of safety shortcuts, a claim the company disputes, and a panel found shortcomings in Boeing’s safety culture.
- Boeing is also dealing with manufacturing flaws on the 787 Dreamliner and setbacks on other programs, including the Starliner space capsule, a military refueling tanker, and new Air Force One jets.
- Boeing is committed to regaining the trust of regulators and the public, promoting a positive safety culture, improving worker training, reducing assembly tasks done out of order, and closely monitoring Spirit AeroSystems to prevent defective fuselages from being shipped.
- The plane involved in the door-plug blowout had been undergoing repairs due to damaged rivets when it arrived from Spirit AeroSystems.
The Associated Press has the story:
Boeing tells federal regulators how it plans to fix aircraft safety & quality problems
Newslooks- (AP)
Boeing officials explained their plan to improve manufacturing quality and safety during a three-hour meeting with federal officials, who will continue restrictions they placed on the company after one of its jetliners suffered a blowout of a fuselage panel in January.
Federal Aviation Administration chief Mike Whitaker said the plan is comprehensive and includes encouraging Boeing employees to speak up about safety concerns.
“This is a guide for a new way for Boeing to do business.” Whitaker told reporters after the meeting. ”Boeing has laid out their road map, and now they need to execute.”
Boeing released an 11-page summary of its “Product Safety and Quality Plan,” which described steps the company is taking, including increased inspections and tighter controls over suppliers. It also says how Boeing will measure its improvement.
CEO David Calhoun, who announced after the Jan. 5 blowout during an Alaska Airlines flight that he would step down at the end of the year, said the document was crafted from comments by employees, the FAA, airlines and independent experts.
“Many of these actions are underway, and our team is committed to executing on each element of the plan,” Calhoun said in a statement. “It is through this continuous learning and improvement process that our industry has made commercial aviation the safest mode of transportation. The actions we are taking today will further strengthen that foundation.”
Stephanie Pope, a possible successor to Calhoun who was recently promoted to chief operating officer and chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, said the plan was designed to improve employee training, simplify manufacturing, “eliminate defects at the source, and elevate our safety and quality culture.”
Nobody was hurt during the Jan. 5 blowout of a door plug on a relatively new Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 as it flew above Oregon. Accident investigators determined that bolts used to help secure the panel were missing after a repair job in a Boeing factory.
The mishap further battered Boeing’s reputation, led to multiple civil and criminal investigations, and prompted Whitaker to order the report that Boeing delivered Thursday.
Whitaker said he wanted Boeing to develop a comprehensive, detailed plan that improves manufacturing process, quality and safety management, and encourages employees to raise concerns about safety.
“Those are all elements of the plan,” Whitaker said. He added that Boeing had accepted all the safety recommendations made earlier this year by a panel of independent safety experts.
Still, Whitaker said, the FAA will continue to cap production of the 737 Max, Boeing’s best-selling plane, and to insist on approving each plane that comes off the assembly line. He said the FAA also will maintain a “significant increase” in safety inspectors at plants run by Boeing and its key supplier, Spirit AeroSystems.
Boeing’s recent problems could expose it to criminal prosecution related to the deadly crashes of two Max jetliners in 2018 and 2019. The Justice Department said two weeks ago that Boeing violated terms of a 2021 settlement that allowed it to avoid prosecution for fraud. The charge was based on the company allegedly deceiving regulators about a flight-control system that was implicated in the crashes.
Whistleblowers have accused the company of taking shortcuts that endanger passengers, a claim that Boeing disputes. A panel convened by the FAA prior to the blowout found shortcomings in the aircraft maker’s safety culture.
Most of the recent problems have been related to the Max, however Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems have also struggled with manufacturing flaws on a larger plane, the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing has suffered setbacks on other programs including its Starliner space capsule, a military refueling tanker, and new Air Force One presidential jets.
Boeing officials have vowed to regain the trust of regulators and the flying public. Boeing has fallen behind rival Airbus, and production setbacks have hurt the company’s ability to generate cash.
The company says it is promoting a positive safety culture, improving worker training, reducing “traveled work” — assembly tasks that are done out of their proper chronological order — and keeping closer tabs on Spirit AeroSystems, including preventing the supplier from shipping defective fuselages to Boeing.
The plane that suffered the door-plug blowout was being repaired because it had damaged rivets when it arrived at a Boeing factory from Spirit.
