FAA was 'too hands off' in Boeing oversight before 737 MAX 9 mid-air emergency incident

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday the agency was "too hands off" in oversight of Boeing before a January mid-air emergency in a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9.

"The FAA should have had much better visibility into what was happening at Boeing before Jan. 5," said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.

He said the agency had permanently boosted the use of in-person inspectors and would visit a Boeing factory in South Carolina on Friday.

The FAA's approach before then "was too hands off, too focused on paperwork audits and not focused enough on inspections," Whitaker added. "We will utilize the full extent of our enforcement authority to ensure Boeing is held accountable for any noncompliance. We currently have multiple active investigations into Boeing."

Whitaker also said the agency will continue increased on-site presence at Boeing and its supplier Spirit AeroSystems "for the foreseeable future."

Whitaker said the FAA has "additional inspections at critical points of the production process."

Whitaker and said after the incident "the FAA changed its oversight approach and those changes are permanent. We have now supplemented our audits with more active, in-person oversight — the 'audit plus inspection' approach."

On May 30, Boeing delivered a comprehensive quality improvement plan delivered to the FAA after Whitaker in late February gave Boeing 90 days to develop a comprehensive plan to address "systemic quality-control issues."

Boeing investigates quality problem on undelivered 787s, sources say

Boeing is investigating a new quality problem with its 787 Dreamliner after discovering that hundreds of fasteners have been incorrectly installed on the fuselages of some undelivered 787 Dreamliner jets, two people familiar with the matter said.

The latest in a series of manufacturing snags affecting the U.S. planemaker involves incorrect "torquing" or tightening in a Boeing plant of more than 900 fasteners per plane - split equally between both sides of the jet's mid-body, they said.

There is no immediate concern about flight safety but Boeing is working to understand what caused the problem and will decide how much if any rework needs to be done once its investigation is complete, the sources said, asking not to be identified.

The sources said the fasteners - which attach the carbon-composite skin to skeletal supports inside the fuselage called longerons - had been torqued from the wrong side.

Boeing confirmed the checks in response to a Reuters query.

"Our 787 team is checking fasteners in the side-of-body area of some undelivered 787 Dreamliner airplanes to ensure they meet our engineering specifications. The in-service fleet can continue to safely operate," a spokesperson said.

"We are taking the time necessary to ensure all airplanes meet our delivery standards prior to delivery. We are working closely with our customers and the FAA and keeping them updated.”

The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Deliveries have been running more slowly than usual after an earlier production slowdown but have not so far been paused, FlightRadar24 tracking data showed.

Boeing shares fell 1.7% in morning trading.