The US Transportation Safety Agency (NTSB) issued, on Thursday, September 26, “urgent security recommendations” relating to the rudder system of certain Boeing 737s, due to the risk of blocking or impeding part of the device.
This recommendation comes after an incident that occurred on February 6 in a Boeing 737 MAX 8 of the American company United Airlines, whose rudder pedals became stuck in the neutral position while taxiing on the runway after landing at Newark Airport (New Jersey). ), near New York.
The captain had to use the front landing gear controls to control the direction of the plane, which had not suffered damage, the NTSB explains in its statement, specifying that none of the 155 passengers or crew members on board were injured.
The equipment in question, a guidance actuator manufactured by the American company Collins Aerospace (a subsidiary of RTX), turned out to contain a defective component: a poorly installed gasket in the assembly allowed the infiltration of moisture that, in certain circumstances, can freeze and limit thus the movements of the rudder device, specifies the press release.
Collins Aerospace informed Boeing that more than 353 actuators delivered since February 2017 had this defect. They were installed on the tail fin of certain 737 NG and 737 MAX, the current version of the 737 family.
Regulator’s decision awaited
United Airlines is the only US carrier to have taken delivery of aircraft with this defect and none are believed to be in service to date. Still, the FAA air regulator must determine whether these faulty actuators should be removed from airplanes still in operation overseas. He said in a separate statement that he followed “closely” the NTSB investigation and we have scheduled a meeting for Friday to “determine next steps”.
American aircraft manufacturer Boeing has been under close surveillance by the FAA since an in-flight incident with an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 in early January; revived doubts about the quality and conformity of the production of this aircraft, already questioned after the accident of two 737 MAX 8, in 2018 and 2019, which left 346 dead, and then due to a series of manufacturing problems throughout 2023.
Among other consequences, Boeing’s management was restructured in March and a new boss, Kelly Ortberg, arrived on August 8. The latter directed Rockwell Collins from 2013 to 2018, a company that became Collins Aerospace after its acquisition by United Technologies in November 2018.
