Debris found in new Boeing 737 Max fuel tanks
Boeing said it had found debris in the fuel tanks of several undelivered 737 Max aircraft.
An official said that “a range of Foreign Object Debris was recently found in the fuel tanks of several 737 Max airplanes in storage”.
The US planemaker built around 400 Max jets before it temporarily halted production in December. Some of them are currently stored in car parks.
The doomed jet was grounded last March following two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which claimed 346 lives.
The memo, from Mark Jenks, the general manager of the 737 programme, said Boeing had already updated its processes for eliminating debris, including extra checks before fuel tanks are sealed.
The fuel tank debris was discovered during maintenance on parked planes, and Boeing said it immediately made corrections in its production system to prevent a recurrence. Those steps include more inspections before fuel tanks are sealed.
Mr Jenks said that “customers and the flying public are counting on us to do our best work each and every day”, adding that times were “challenging” for Boeing.
For the past 11 months, Boeing has been seeking to fix anti-stall software known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). In both fatal crashes the system forced the nose of the aircraft down despite the pilots’ efforts to overcome it.
The planemaker is currently testing the updated software for the Boeing 737 Max, but the plane is not expected to be back in service until mid-2020 at the earliest.
A Boeing spokesperson told The Independent: “Safely returning the 737 Max to service is our top priority. While conducting maintenance we discovered Foreign Object Debris (FOD) in undelivered 737 MAX airplanes currently in storage. That finding led to a robust internal investigation and immediate corrective actions in our production system. We are also inspecting all stored 737 MAX airplanes at Boeing to ensure there is no FOD.
“We have already recommended to our customers with airplanes in active storage for more than one year to inspect the fuel tank for FOD as part of their procedures. We continue to have conversations with our customers about the best approach for inspections of their stored airplanes prior to return to service.”
