Boeing is again dealing with a quality problem in production. This time it concerns the attachment of the tail of the 737 and MAX, which was not done
correctly. Boeing has to check an as yet unknown number of aircraft, delaying deliveries.

The Bloomberg news agency was the first to report the news on Thursday evening after the American stock exchange closed, but it has been confirmed by Boeing. The aircraft manufacturer was informed on Wednesday by its major supplier Spirit Aerosystems that there is a problem. Spirit builds the complete fuselages of the 737 and MAX.

On aircraft built since 2019, two of the eight tail fin attachment points do not meet the correct specifications. The problem has been found on the military 737 P-8A, the MAX 7, MAX 8 and the MAX 8200, but not on the MAX 9 and the MAX 10s built so far. The reason why an error was made with only two attachment points is being investigated. Spirit has been building the hulls for years.

Boeing emphasizes that the problem has no consequences for the safety of the aircraft, but according to standard procedure it immediately informed the aviation authority FAA. The manufacturer must now check which devices are affected by the deviation and expects to spend days or even weeks on this. This concerns aircraft built from 2019 onwards.

After the flight ban in March 2019, Boeing had approximately 450 MAXs in stock. At the end of December, 250 of these were still at the factory. Between December 2020 and the end of March this year, 757 aircraft were delivered, including newly built aircraft. Due to the extra inspections, fewer MAXs can be delivered in the near future, says Boeing.

The problem comes a few days after reports that Boeing wants to increase production of the MAX as early as this summer from about 31 per month now to 38 units, anticipating a minimum of 40 per month in 2024. In 2025, 52 aircraft should be built. , just as much as before the corona crisis.

The discovery does not bode well for Spirit Aerosystems. Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal already mentioned a production problem in the fuselage of the MAX last year, but it is unclear whether this is the same thing. In 2020, Spirit discovered anomalies in the nose section of the 787 it built, which was later added to a problem with the forward pressure bulkhead. CEO Tom Gentile said several times that Spirit had thoroughly reviewed the manufacturing process to address the source of the errors, but now he has a new problem.

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* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)