Boeing Given 90 Days By FAA To Come Up With Quality Control Plan

(RTTNews) - Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration or FAA issued a directive to The Boeing Co. (BA) to take corrective action on its systemic quality-control problems.

The FAA Administrator, Mike Whitaker, requested that Boeing develop a comprehensive action plan to address these issues and comply with the FAA's stringent safety standards.

Boeing has been given a timeframe of 90 days to submit the action plan, taking into account the upcoming results of the FAA production-line audit and the latest findings from the expert review panel report.

The FAA's directive comes after an incident in early January where a panel detached from a Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft during a flight. In addition to addressing this specific incident, Boeing is required to enhance its Safety Management System and integrate it with a Quality Management System to ensure consistent oversight across its suppliers. These measures aim to bring about tangible improvements in manufacturing quality control.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report that indicated the detachment of the panel was due to crucial bolts being removed during the manufacturing process at Boeing's Renton facility, suggesting they may not have been reinstalled.

This finding has led the FAA to take a firm stance against Boeing, halting the production expansion of the 737 Max series until all quality-control issues are effectively resolved. Furthermore, the FAA has initiated audits of Boeing's Max production and an investigation into the company's adherence to manufacturing standards.