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A Boeing 737 MAX plane. The manufacturer said it has found what it called ‘foreign object debris' inside the fuel tanks in wings of built but not delivered planes. Photo: EPA-EFE

Boeing’s woes continue as debris found in fuel tanks of dozens of undelivered 737 MAX planes

  • The US plane maker is struggling to rebuild trust after two crashes led to the model being grounded
  • Meanwhile, US prosecutors are investigating if a Boeing pilot knowingly lied to the Federal Aviation Administration
Boeing
Boeing has found debris in the fuel tanks of dozens of undelivered 737 MAX jets amid ongoing inspections as the Chicago-based planemaker struggles to restore the trust of airlines and the wider public in the grounded fleet.

Boeing found debris in the fuel tanks of about 35 aircraft, a company spokesman confirmed on Friday. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that more than 50 per cent of the undelivered 737 MAX jets inspected thus far have had debris found in them.

Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are parked at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington state. Photo: EPA-EFE

Several more planes are still awaiting inspection.

“We are taking steps to make sure we eliminate FOD (foreign object debris) from any and all aircraft. This is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated on any Boeing aircraft when it’s delivered to the customer,” Boeing said in an emailed statement.

The findings of debris was first by The Wall Street Journal.

Foreign object debris, an industrial term for rags, tools, metal shavings and other materials left behind by workers during production, has been a quality-control issue for various Boeing aircraft, such as its KC-46 tankers.

This week, an internal memo seen by Reuters showed that Boeing found debris that could pose potential safety risks in the fuel tanks of several 737 MAX aircraft in storage and waiting to be delivered to airlines.

Adnaan Stumo, who lost his sister Samya Rose Stumo in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, holds a poster with photographs of those killed on the flight. Photo: Reuters

Boeing has come under scrutiny since two crashes of its 737 MAX aircraft in October 2018 and March 2019 killed 346 people.

The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide last March after the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

Troubled Boeing 737 MAX could return to service before summer

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported on Friday that federal prosecutors investigating Boeing are examining whether the planemaker misled the Federal Aviation Administration while it was seeking approval for the 737 MAX.

Boeing said it was cooperating with the U.S Department of Justice investigation.

The prosecutors have questioned several Boeing employees in recent months, focusing on whether Mark Forkner, a top pilot at the company, intentionally lied to the regulator about the nature of new flight control software on the jet, according to the report.

A Boeing worker walks past a 737 model fuselage and a giant mural of a jet in Renton, Washington state. Photo: AP

A lawyer for Forkner did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Forkner had said he might have unintentionally misled regulators, in a series of internal messages from 2016 that became public in October.

The messages appeared to have been the first publicly known observations that the MCAS anti-stall system behaved erratically during testing before the aircraft entered service.

Boeing works to restore reputation as new 777X completes test flight

The comments by Forkner, who has since left Boeing, were among those pinpointed by US lawmakers in hearings in Washington state as evidence that Boeing knew about problems with flight control software before two crashes of its 737 MAX aircraft in October 2018 and March 2019 killed 346 people.

Bloomberg News reported late on Friday that the planemaker had put three employees who worked with the former chief technical pilot of the 737 MAX on administrative leave, with the employees being notified of the action last week.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Debris in fuel tanks of undelivered 737 MAX jets
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