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Boeing staff on the Renton Municipal Airport in Washington finalize meeting of an Alaska Airways Boeing 737 Max jet on Feb. 27. An FAA audit faulted Boeing for “a number of cases” of high quality management shortcomings. Jovelle Tamayo for NPR disguise caption
Boeing staff on the Renton Municipal Airport in Washington finalize meeting of an Alaska Airways Boeing 737 Max jet on Feb. 27. An FAA audit faulted Boeing for “a number of cases” of high quality management shortcomings.
Jovelle Tamayo for NPRWASHINGTON — After a six-week audit of Boeing, federal regulators say they found quality control problems at Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, considered one of its high suppliers.
The Federal Aviation Administration says it discovered “a number of cases” of Boeing and Spirit failing to “adjust to manufacturing high quality management necessities.”
The FAA launched the audit of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, which builds the fuselage for the Boeing 737 Max, after a door plug panel blew out in midair throughout an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5.
No one was seriously hurt when the plug got here off as the brand new jet climbed by 14,000 toes after departing Portland, Ore. It returned to make an emergency touchdown as winds whipped by a gap within the fuselage.
A preliminary investigation by the Nationwide Transportation Security Board decided that 4 key bolts that had been supposed to carry the door plug in place were missing when the airplane left Boeing’s manufacturing unit.
The audit discovered issues in “Boeing’s manufacturing course of management, components dealing with and storage, and product management,” the FAA stated in a press release.
The company says FAA administrator Mike Whitaker mentioned the findings with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun final week, when the agency gave Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan of motion to handle its high quality management issues.
The FAA says it supplied each corporations with a abstract of the audit findings. However the company declined to share these particulars with NPR, citing its ongoing investigation.
Auditors visited Boeing’s manufacturing unit in Renton, Wash., and Spirit’s plant in Wichita, Kan.
Boeing confirmed Friday that it’s in talks to purchase Spirit AeroSystems.
“We consider that the reintegration of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems’ manufacturing operations would additional strengthen aviation security, enhance high quality and serve the pursuits of our clients, workers, and shareholders,” stated Jessica Kowal, Boeing’s director of media relations, in a press release.
That will be a change of technique for Boeing, which almost 20 years in the past offered off the property that are actually a part of Spirit.
However the provider has had a number of pricey and embarrassing issues with high quality management lately because it pushed to maintain up with Boeing’s formidable manufacturing schedule.
NPR’s Joel Rose reported from Washington, D.C., and Russell Lewis from Birmingham, Ala.
