AviationFAA to inspect Boeing’s 737 planes for faulty parts

Federal aviation regulators will order special inspections more than 1,000 Boeing 737 jets, and possibly replace improperly manufactured parts   which could cause pilots to lose control of the planes.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) safety mandate includes certain corrosion-resistant pins used to attach movable tail panels to the fuselage.

According to industry officials, the directive is uncommon because the factory defects involved could potentially affect a large number of planes, especially new versions of the 737 plane, which are the most widely used jet flown worldwide.

The Journal notes that the suspicious parts, are used to help horizontal stabilizers which control the up-and-down motion of the nose of the plane, have not resulted in any crashes.

The order was given after “reports of an incorrect procedure used to apply the wear and corrosion protection surface coating” to the affected parts, which the agency determined could result “in premature failure” of the attachments and potentially “loss of control of the airplane,” the directive states.

The failures of the horizontal stabilizers can put a plane into a steep dive or climb, which pilots may be unable to prevent or correct.

The directive will take effect late next month and compliance times for the order will depend on the age of the plane as well as other factors. The compliance deadlines are not expected to impact current airline schedules.

The FAA rejected industry requests to exclude certain planes from the inspections because schedules for deliveries of new jets and spare parts would make “identification of the affected planes difficult.” The agency has estimated the maximum total compliance costs at about $10 million for U.S. carriers.

At the beginning of April, FAA officials mandated Boeing-recommended improvements to “severe vibration” which could have led to “structural failure” of the horizontal stabilizer or another section of the tail on a 737 and earlier in the year, the FAA expanded the proposed inspections.