A new preliminary report from the National Transportation
Safety Board revealed that a United Airlines flight from Nassau, Bahamas, to
Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey experienced
"stuck" rudder pedals on its landing roll on Feb. 6.
According to the report, the captain told investigators that
“the rudder pedals did not move in response to the ‘normal’ application of foot
pressure while attempting to maintain the runway centerline. The pedals
remained ‘stuck’ in their neutral position.”
United received the plane involved in the incident from
Boeing on Feb. 20, 2023, and removed it from service for maintenance after the
incident.
The NTSB said it is continuing to investigate the incident,
but early tests suggest cold temperatures may have been a factor in the fault.
“We appreciate the NTSB’s work on this preliminary report
and will continue to fully support their investigation. We worked closely with
United Airlines to diagnose the rudder response issue observed during two 737-8
flights in early February. With coordination with United, the issue was
successfully resolved with the replacement of three parts and the airplane
returned to service last month,” a Boeing spokesperson said in a statement.
The company also pointed out that 737 Max jets use the same
rudder controls as the previous generation of the plane. According to Boeing,
two similar incidents occurred in 2019, both of which were resolved by
replacing components.
While seemingly less serious than earlier issues, this is
just another headache for Boeing as it tries to assure travelers and airlines
that its 737 Maxes are reliable airplanes. The jets were involved in two
high-profile crashes that killed 346 people and left them grounded for more
than a year. Then, earlier this year, the Max 9 fleet was grounded for a number
of weeks after an Alaska Airlines flight experienced an explosive decompression
when a door plug ripped out mid-flight.
In the wake of those incidents, Boeing has been under
intense scrutiny and pressure from regulators to improve its manufacturing
processes and safety standards.
Boeing called out in Senate hearing
Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board argued
Wednesday over whether the company has cooperated with investigators looking
into the blowout of a door-plug panel on one of its planes during a flight in
January.
The safety board's chair, Jennifer Homendy, told a Senate
Committee that for two months Boeing repeatedly refused to identify employees
who work on door panels on Boeing 737s. Investigators want to interview them.
Homendy also said the company has failed to provide
documentation about a repair job that included removing and reinstalling the
panel on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 that suffered the blowout — or
even whether Boeing kept records.
“It's absurd that two months later we don't have that,”
Homendy said. “Without that information, that raises concerns about quality
assurance, quality management, safety management systems” at Boeing.
Shortly after the Senate hearing ended, Boeing responded
that it gave the NTSB the names of all employees who work on 737 doors — and
had previously shared some of them with investigators.
“Early in the investigation, we provided the NTSB with names
of Boeing employees, including door specialists, who we believed would have
relevant information,” a company spokesman said in a statement. “We have now
provided the full list of individuals on the 737 door team, in response to a
recent request."
NTSB fired back, saying that Homendy “stands behind her accurate testimony" to the Senate Commerce Committee.
It is still unclear whether Boeing kept records about who
removed the plug—a panel that replaces extra emergency doors when they are not
required—on the Alaska plane last September.
“If the door plug removal was undocumented there would be no
documentation to share,” Boeing said.