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WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday (Jan 17) that inspections of an initial group of Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes have been completed, a key hurdle to eventually ungrounding the planes after a Jan 5 cabin panel broke off in mid-flight.
On Friday, the FAA said 40 of the 171 grounded planes needed to be reinspected, then the agency would review the results and determine if it is safe to allow the Boeing Max 9s to resume flying. The FAA said on Wednesday that it will “thoroughly review the data” from the inspections before deciding if the planes can resume flights.
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the two UA airlines that use the aircraft involved and which completed the inspections, have had to cancel hundreds of flights since last week and have cancelled all Max 9 flights through Wednesday.
Boeing has now named a retired Navy admiral as a special adviser on matters including quality of work done at suppliers as the aircraft maker responds to the midflight blowout aboard one of its planes this month.
Boeing CEO David Calhoun said he asked Kirkland Donald to join a team that will make recommendations to improve oversight of quality in the company’s factories and those of its suppliers.
Before retiring from the military, Donald was the director of the Navy’s nuclear propulsion program for eight years. He is chairman of shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries.
BOEING 737 MAX 9 JETS GROUNDED
The retired admiral’s appointment was announced a day after the company said it would increase quality inspections on its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, following the accident on an Alaska Airlines jet, when a plug used to fill a spot for an emergency exit blew out while the plane flew over Oregon on Jan 5.
The inspections come after Federal regulators grounded most Max 9 jets, including all those used by Alaska and United Airlines. A Boeing official said Monday it is “clear that we are not where we need to be” on quality assurance and controls.
The door plug that blew off the Alaska jet was installed by a supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, and is being examined by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident.
Boeing 737 and 787 jets have been plagued in recent years by several manufacturing problems that have interrupted the delivery of new planes to airlines.
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