the boss of Boeing recognizes an “error”

Dave Calhoun promised to address the issue “transparently, every step of the way.”

The CEO of Boeing recognized, Tuesday January 9, a “error” after a condemned door on a plane from the manufacturer was torn off on Friday during an Alaska Airlines flight. After this incident, the American aviation regulator (FAA) ordered the grounding of dozens of aircraft of the same model, the 737 MAX 9.

“We will approach [ce dossier] starting by recognizing our mistake”, declared Dave Calhoun during a meeting at the American airline group’s factory in Renton (Washington state). He promised to address the issue “transparently, every step of the way”.

He said he would rely on the FAA “to ensure that all aircraft allowed to fly are safe and to ensure that this event never happens again.” “All the details are important”, he insisted, claiming to have been marked by the images of the Alaska Airlines flight, which had to turn around shortly after takeoff. The Boeing boss did not specify what he meant by “error”.

“Poorly attached equipment” discovered

United, which owns the largest fleet of 737 MAX 9s in the world (79 aircraft), said Monday that it had discovered “bolts that needed to be tightened” during checks on the condemned doors of its devices, identical to the one torn off on Friday. Alaska Airlines also revealed that it had detected “poorly attached equipment” on some of its devices of this type, after preliminary inspections.

Locking certain doors is offered by Boeing to its customers when the number of existing emergency exits is already sufficient in relation to the number of seats in the aircraft. In addition to the 737 MAX 9, this device already exists on other Boeing models, notably the 737-900ER, launched in 2006 and which has not experienced any similar incidents since.