Now there is a harsh condemnation from the US aviation authority FAA: The series of mishaps at Boeing never ends

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Switzerland’s Boeing 777s have caused trouble in the last few days. This may actually be a random cluster of cases. But at Boeing, it’s better to look twice now.

Just this Tuesday, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) condemned lapses in quality assurance at Boeing after a months-long investigation. In the commercial aircraft division, an FAA panel found “there is no consistent way for employees to report quality defects.” There is also evidence that reporting quality problems can have negative effects on employees.

It’s not the first time Boeing has gotten into a bad situation: In 2017, two unnamed Boeing employees had an argument about the Boeing 737 Max plane. The publicized conversation caused a stir because an employee said that this type of plane was designed by clowns, and the clowns were controlled by monkeys (“This plane was designed by clowns controlled by monkeys”).

Serious consequences for Boeing

“Boeing can no longer climb out of its image hole,” says longtime aviation journalist Patrick Huber, 65. Competitors such as Airbus are taking advantage of this. But Huber recalls that Airbus also had major problems in the 1990s, which Boeing took advantage of at the time. So it’s too early to write off Boeing.

But the last five years have been one horror story for the aircraft manufacturer from Everett (USA). Blick summarizes the problems by aircraft type.

In October 2018, a nearly new Lion Air Boeing 737 Max crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 189 people. On March 10, 2019, a new Boeing 737 Max belonging to Ethiopian Airlines crashed shortly after takeoff in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), killing 157 people.

Investigation reports indicate malfunctions in the flight control system. On March 13, 2019, the Boeing 737 Max will be banned from flying worldwide. This is not an exaggeration: Further investigation makes clear that Boeing did not adequately inform pilots about the dangers of the flight control system. A special commission even concluded that both crashes were caused by apparent failures at Boeing and the FAA. It wasn’t just the construction that sucked, but also the approval process.

At the end of January 2020, Boeing reported its first annual loss in more than 20 years. Shortly before this, CEO Dennis Muilenburg should resign. The Boeing 737 Max will not be launched for flight operations again until November 18, 2020.

On January 7, 2021, Boeing agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion in fines and restitution as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice for “fraudulently misleading regulators.”

There will be problems again with this type of aircraft in January 2024. Loose doors, falling off wheels: Boeing is encouraging multiple airlines to inspect their planes. For now, Boeing is no longer allowed to increase production of the Max series beyond the final level of 38 machines per month.

The model, which is the successor to the Boeing 777, was initially planned to go on sale in 2020. Due to Covid-19 as well as events during testing, among other factors, the launch date was postponed to 2025.

In the 737 NG series, the previous model of the Max, there were problems in the structure connecting the wing to the fuselage in 2019. Cracks in this critical component have led to the inspection and repair of numerous aircraft.

There were various manufacturing and design problems with this type of aircraft, especially regarding composite materials and batteries. These problems led to a temporary shutdown of the global fleet in 2013 due to concerns about battery fires. In 2020 and 2021, problems occurred again, this time in the trunk connection areas and horizontal stabilizers. This led to delivery delays and special inspections.

Airbus laughs and profits

Airbus can sell more machines while US rival Boeing is deep in a crisis of its own making. The delivery of 800 aircraft is planned for 2024, and a record 863 jets were delivered in 2019.

Airbus replaced Boeing as the largest aircraft manufacturer in 2019. Boeing has now recorded losses for five years in a row. Airbus made an adjusted profit of 5.8 billion euros last year.

But you can’t write off Boeing. Boeing was also able to secure orders for dozens of aircraft at recent major air shows in Paris and Dubai.

Source :Blick