News @lemmy.world return2ozma @lemmy.world 6 mo. ago

United Airlines finds loose bolts on door plugs on several 737 Max 9 planes following Alaska Airlines mid-air door blowout incident

www.cbsnews.com United finds loose bolts on door plugs on several 737 Max 9 planes following Alaska Airlines mid-air door blowout incident

United Airlines, which has 79 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, did not confirm how many planes had loose bolts.

17 comments

United Airlines... did not confirm how many planes had loose bolts

If it was just a few, they would have confirmed how many
- I doubt they would confirm before they had tested every bolt on a few planes
  
  Or at least one, testing every bolt, or at least this bolt on a bunch of them
  
  But they would need a sensitive tool to measure torq needed to unlock it that’s kinda cool
  
  Loose bolts indicate vibration, and that is a death knell for Boeing ... because their engineers should have known how many bolts would be needed and the torque required to lock them in.
  
  Boeing will pay through the nose for this screw up.
- Generally in Aviation, bolts are torqued down to a spec and then they are wired to prevent them from coming loose. I’m not an engineer but this happening on soo many planes looks like a manufacturing QC problem.
Boeing sure seems to be on a winning streak.
- I bought Boeing on the dip during the last 737 disaster. I’m so thankful I unloaded all my Boeing stock when it ran up in late December.
  
  They are a turd of a company. Even though the Max 8 was finally being delivered I figured with their track record for engineering, manufacturing and QC they would still have knock on effects.
  
  The stock is tempting now but I don’t think I want to gamble on them again.
This will somehow result in increased bag fees.
- Bolt Tightening Fee
- I'd like to fly premium please!.... Oh so the blue plane on the right? Do I get an upgrade to the no duct tape fleet?
"United Airlines didn't properly perform preventative maintenance, checks, and services on their airplanes, at least until recently."
- If all of them were subject to Alaska Airlines’ WiFi equipment installation post-sale, which required unbolting the door plugs, then all of them have to be rechecked and rebooted. This you won’t hear from them :)
Oh shit....they are going to go after Fred Novabitch the guy at final assembly who goes around with the torque wrench and finish off the screws. You should have done your job Fred!
Are they installed from the inside so that air pressure also helps to keep them in position, similar to the actual doors?
They need the fixies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGenq8wsYt8

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