FAA to raise oversight of Boeing after door incident

Agency is reconsidering allowing some employees to perform inspections

The Federal Aviation Administration says it will increase oversight of Boeing and audit production of the 737 Max 9 jetliner after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines plane in midflight last week, the latest in a string of mishaps at the troubled aircraft maker.

The FAA said Friday it would judge whether Boeing and its parts suppliers followed approved quality procedures.

Amid reports of continued manufacturing problems, the FAA also said it’s reconsidering a longstanding practice of relying on employees at aircraft manufacturers to perform some safety analysis of planes. Members of Congress criticized the practice of deputizing Boeing employees as inspectors after two deadly crashes involving Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in 2018 and 2019.

“It is time to re-examine the delegation of authority and assess any associated safety risks,” said new FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker. “The FAA is exploring the use of an independent third party to oversee Boeing’s inspections and its quality system.”

Whitaker suggested the FAA might find “a technical, nonprofit organization” to help oversee Boeing’s work. The agency also said it will increase monitoring of problems reported on Max 9 flights.

He told CNBC on Friday the FAA will also step up its oversight of Spirit AeroSystems, which supplies Boeing with fuselages for the 737 Max.

“We know there are problems with manufacturing, there have been problems in the past, but these are continuing,” Whitaker said. “This is a brand-new aircraft, it has just come off the line and it had significant problems, and we believe there are other manufacturing problems.”

In a statement, Arlington, Va.-based Boeing said it will cooperate with the FAA. “We support all actions that strengthen quality and safety, and we are taking actions across our production system,” the company said.

Spirit also said it’s supporting the FAA actions. “Spirit’s top priorities are quality, product integrity and compliance,” a company statement said.

The FAA’s intensifying focus on safety at Boeing comes just a day after the agency announced an investigation into whether the manufacturer failed to make sure a fuselage panel that blew off was safe and manufactured to meet the design that regulators approved.

The National Transportation Safety Board is focusing its investigation on plugs used to fill spots for extra doors when those exits are not required for safety reasons on Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners.

One of two door plugs on an Alaska Max 9 blew out shortly after the plane took off from Portland, Ore., a week ago, leaving a hole in the plane. The cabin lost pressure and the plane was forced to descend rapidly and return to Portland for an emergency landing. No serious injuries were reported.

Whitaker said the FAA in the past used to do a lot more aircraft-manufacturing inspections, but legislation moved those to the private sector. Sometimes that works, but at times it doesn’t. The third party, he said, is just an option. “It may not be the right option, but I think we need to have that debate.”

Legislators criticized the designated inspector program after the Max crashes overseas, contending the inspectors were still paid by Boeing and beholden to the company, not the FAA.

But in 2019, then-acting FAA administrator Dan Elwell said replacing the use of company workers for safety-certification work would require the agency to add 10,000 employees at a cost of

$1.8 billion a year.

That all but ended consideration of FAA doing the work.