What Happens When an Alaska Airlines Door Panel is Blown Off at a Linear Collider? A Call to Spirit AeroSystems
Management at the factory would sometimes host a pizza party to celebrate a decrease in problems reported on the line.
Dean, a quality auditor at the factory, said that they were having a pizza party because they were lowering defects. We aren’t lowering defects. We’re not reporting them, you know what I mean?
Now federal investigators are looking more closely at Spirit AeroSystems to understand what went wrong with the door panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 in midair last month — the latest chapter in the long and troubled relationship between the two companies.
Dean gave statements as part of a shareholder lawsuit that accuses Spirit AeroSystems of having excessive defects at a factory in Kansas.
I’m not saying they won’t allow you to look at a job. You know, they do,” Dean said. If you make a lot of trouble, you’ll get the Josh treatment. You will find out what happened to me.
Boeing and Spirit Aerosystems Reveal Unusual Mechanical Defects After the Deliveration of the Plane: An Aviation Safety Inspector’s Perspective
The FAA is sending a team of aviation safety inspectors to conduct reviews at the factories of Spirit and Boeing.
That’s not unusual, according to the whistleblower. They say Boeing has discovered “a hideously high and very alarming number” of defects after the fuselages were delivered to its factory in Washington.
An issue that doesn’t conform to engineering standards was identified by a member of the team. “We are in close communication with Boeing on this matter,” he said.
The whistle blower says that the door plug had to be taken out for maintenance due to the damaged and improper installation of rivets.
“The mindset I have is that we can eliminate all defects,” Shanahan said on a call with analysts and investors last November. “I think you’ll see us improve quite a bit in this area.
The company was once part of Boeing but was sold off in 2005. Boeing leaders now concede that they may have outsourced too many parts of the manufacturing chain.
The door plug was originally installed by contractor Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kan. and then shipped to Boeing’s factory in Renton, Wash. for assembly. The door plug was to be opened for repairs after it arrived in Washington. According to photo evidence provided by Boeing, bolts were not reinstalled after work was done by workers from Spirit AeroSystems.
What the investigators think happened to the bolts is not yet known. An anonymous person who claims to be an employee of Boeing offered an explanation.
Problems between mechanics are described by the whistle blower. The whistleblower, who appears to have access to Boeing’s internal records, wrote that the door plugs “were not installed when Boeing delivered the plane, our own records reflect this.”
Quality control problems at the two companies come as no surprise to longtime industry analyst Richard Aboulafia, because Boeing has been aggressively pushing its suppliers to cut costs for years.
“You had the people at the top focused on numbers, money,” said Aboulafia, the managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory. Everyone was subject to cost cuts without being aware of how this would affect technical execution.
“Did it go too far? Yeah, probably did. Now it’s here and now, and now I’ve got to deal with it,” Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in an interview with CNBC last week. “And yes, the subject of how we interact with all of our suppliers at large, that will be a subject that we will be working out for quite a long time.”
“We recently instructed a major supplier to hold shipments until all jobs have been completed to specification,” Deal wrote in a letter to Boeing employees. He said that the company’s production schedule would be affected by the delay, but that it would improve overall quality.
The FAA is in the midst of a six-week audit of production at both facilities, and an employee culture survey at Boeing. After those are complete, the agency won’t make any decisions about a permanent inspection plan.
What is the problem with the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 plane? The FAA needs a heightened oversight level in the aftermath of the July 11 incident
When the door plug exploded, the jet was climbing through the air at an altitude of 14,800 feet. It resulted in a rapid depressurization and emergency landing back at Portland.
There was a crisis for Boeing after the incident. The plane maker is still trying to rebuild public trust after two of their jets crashed and killed hundreds of people.
“Whatever final conclusions are reached, Boeing is accountable for what happened,” Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement. “An event like this must not happen on a plane leaving our factory.” They need to do better for customers and their passengers.
The Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 incident came up during a Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday. The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Michael Whitaker, told lawmakers on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this latest 737 accident has created several issues for the FAA.
What is the problem with this airplane? What’s going on with the production at Boeing? There have been issues in the past. And they don’t seem to be getting resolved. So we feel like we need to have a heightened level of oversight to really get after that.”
More boots will be on the ground to closely scrutinize and monitor production and manufacturing activities. We will want to keep the people on the ground. We do not know how many are out there. We think that presence will be necessary.
The FAA had already ordered Boeing not to increase its production rate for the Max until they were satisfied with the quality control measures they had in place.