The United States Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) has expanded the recommendation to review Boeing aircraft to a new model, the 737-900ER, following the incident with a door on a 737 MAX-9 that came off. shortly after takeoff. This mishap forced the aircraft of that model to be grounded.
The reason is that they have the same anchors on the exit doors in the middle of the cabin as those that failed on the Alaska Airlines flight on January 5, and that several operators have noted problems with the screws in their reviews. Thus, authorities recommend a visual inspection to "ensure that the door is properly secured." Specifically, they ask to fix "as soon as possible" in four points with screws, nuts and pins used to secure the door to the fuselage.
Boeing said in a statement that it "fully supports the FAA and our customers" following the decision. The 737-900ER is an older generation that is not part of the MAX family, but has the same design on the door anchors. It began to be delivered to airlines in 2007, until 2019. According to company data, about 505 have been delivered globally. They are mainly integrated into the fleet of the United States United Airlines (with 136), Alaska Airlines and Delta (with 163); from the Korean Korean Air, the Indonesian Lion Air and the Israeli El Al, Bloomberg reports.
The call to expand inspection comes after the FAA said it would increase its oversight of Boeing's production and manufacturing operations. Regulators had already stepped up oversight of Boeing since a pair of 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 passengers and crew.
On Wednesday, the FAA said inspections of an initial group of 40 Boeing 737 MAX-9 aircraft had been completed, a key step in eventually lifting the decision to abandon the ground model.
