FAA Opens New Boeing Inquiry After Jet Maker Says It May Have Missed Some 787 Inspections
Federal air-safety regulators have opened a new investigation into Boeing after the jet maker recently disclosed that its employees may have skipped some inspections on 787 Dreamliners, the latest quality issue at the manufacturer.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane maker notified the agency in April that it may not have completed required inspections related to the electrical safeguards of bonding and grounding where wings join the fuselage on certain aircraft.
The FAA said it was investigating “whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records.” The agency has been scrutinizing Boeing’s production since the Jan. 5 midair blowout of a door plug on a 737 MAX jet flown by Alaska Airlines.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether any 787 Dreamliners currently flying passengers around the world would need to be pulled out of service for inspections. The agency said Boeing was reinspecting all 787s in production and must formulate a plan to address the in-service Dreamliner fleet.
Boeing’s 787 program chief, Scott Stocker, in an April 29 internal message, said the company found no immediate problem for Dreamliners currently flying.
“Fortunately, our engineering team has assessed that this misconduct did not create an immediate safety of flight issue,” Stocker said in the message, which a Boeing spokeswoman provided to The Wall Street Journal.
Write to Andrew Tangel at [email protected]