A new potential safety issue has been discovered in Boeing’s troubled 737 Max after debris was found in the fuel tanks of aircraft held in storage waiting for delivery to airlines.
According to the BBC, the head of the 737 programme told employees the discovery is “absolutely unacceptable”, though a spokesperson told the news channel the issue is not expected to cause further delays to the aircraft’s return to service.
Speaking to the BBC, a Boeing spokesperson said: “While conducting maintenance we discovered Foreign Object Debris in undelivered 737 Max airplanes currently in storage. That finding led to a robust internal investigation and immediate corrective actions in our production system.”
A spokesperson for the FAA told the BBC: “The FAA is aware that Boeing is conducting a voluntary inspection of undelivered aircraft for Foreign Object Debris as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to ensure manufacturing quality. The agency increased its surveillance based on initial inspection reports and will take further action based on the findings.”
The 737 Max has been grounded since March 2019 following two fatal crashes in which a total of 346 people were killed.
The head of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently said he would not put a timeline on when the plane will be re-certified to return to the skies but hinted that a certification flight was ‘close’.
This is the latest in a series of faults with the plane that have been discovered since it was grounded.
In June 2019, Boeing issued a warning to all of its 737 customers after discovering a defect in a third-party component of the aircraft’s wings.
That same month, the FAA said it had identified an issue with the plane’s systems during a review of a software update, though at the time it would not release details of the problem.
Earlier this month, the regulator said it was waiting for Boeing to propose a solution for a wiring problem it discovered on the aircraft that could cause a short circuit.
Since the grounding order was issued, details of engineers’ criticism regarding the 737 Max programme have come to light, with internal staff messages revealing one worker said the aircraft was “designed by clowns”.
A former Boeing engineer also claimed he had witnessed “a lack of sufficient resources to do the job” on the programme and said staff were under pressure to keep costs down and downplay some of the new features on the Max to avoid increased scrutiny from regulators.
Boeing believes the 737 Max could be certified by the middle of this year, but United Airlines recently announced it was taking the plane out of its schedule until at least 4 September.
Meanwhile, the manufacturer has revealed it will use the remaining US$50 million of a previously announced US$100 million fund to support humanitarian needs in communities affected by the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes. The fund will allow victims’ families to donate to eligible charities of their choice.