United Airlines has confirmed that its mechanics have found loose bolts on “a number” of Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft during inspections ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration.
United Airlines Confirms Loose Bolts On Boeing 737 MAX 9
This afternoon, Jon Ostrower of The Air Current broke news that United Airlines found loose bolts “and other parts” on 737 MAX 9 plug doors during its inspection of the Boeing jets. The loose parts were found on five different aircraft.
Earlier today, United sent a media update concerning flight delays and cancellations on the 737 MAX 9 (200 MAX 9 flights were canceled today):
Service on United’s Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft remains temporarily suspended while it conducts inspections required by the FAA. We’re continuing to work with the FAA to clarify the inspection process and requirements for returning all MAX 9 aircraft to service. We are working with customers to reaccommodate them on other flights and in some cases have been able to avoid cancellations by switching to other aircraft types.
But after Ostrower’s report, United confirmed to Live And Let’s Fly that loose bolts were found:
Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug – for example, bolts that needed additional tightening. These findings will be remedied by our Tech Ops team to safely return the aircraft to service.
United still is not clear as to the extent of the inspection process it must undergo, therefore does not have a timeline yet for when these 79 aircraft will be restored to service.
How Is United Airlines Inspecting 737 MAX 9?
United outlined the following inspection process for its MAX 9 aircraft:
- On Saturday, United began preparing for these inspections by removing the inner panel to access the door plug and visually inspecting the area while awaiting final instructions from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
- To access each door plug, it removed two rows of seats and the sidewall liner
- This has already been done on most Max 9s
- United will inspect and verify proper installation of the door and frame hardware
- Then, United will open the door and inspect the area around the door and seal before re-securing the door and ensuring proper fit and security
- Any discrepancies will be documented and corrected before returning that aircraft to service
- Each inspection will include a team of five United technicians working for several hours on each aircraft
But without more concrete federal guidelines or guidance from Boeing, these inspections may simply be a starting point.
CONCLUSION
United Airlines has confirmed it found “bolts that needed additional tightening” upon its inspection of its own 737 MAX 9 aircraft. The extent of the inspection process remains unclear and these aircraft will remain grounded until cleared by federal regulators to resume flight.
Need to get the planes out the door so the executive team can get their quarterly bonuses.
Hope they do that with the max 8 too.
Impossible to do in the MAX8, which lacks the plug except in the rare MAX200 version.
The design of the plug is the same in the 737-900ER so I suspect it’s a quality control issue or maybe even wrong bolts used.
Yet we have bloggers on this site fear mongering about the design, when the 900ER with the same plug has millions of cycles on it.
I’d be curious to know the production numbers of the aircraft with loose bolts. This is why aircraft parts are (supposed to be) meticulously tracked all the way back to manufacture of each part. Could it be an issue with the metal of a certain batch of bolts/nuts/fasteners?
+1 .
I would imagine another contributing factor was the sudden ramp up, then ramp down, then ramp up of Max production by the supplier. Some of the paperwork many have been lost or confused in the shuffle with bolts and nuts not torqued to specs.
I think it’s time for prison for Boeing executives.
Maybe the bolts loosen from vibration.
I’d better re-book. This may turn into canceled flights, refinds, and maybe even a recall of the mad MAX.
Refunds, recall..