The Federal Aviation Administration found dozens of issues throughout Boeing’s 737 Max jet production process, including mechanics at one of its key suppliers using a hotel key card and dish soap as makeshift tools to test compliance, according to a report.
The FAA discovered “unacceptable” quality control issues during an audit into Boeing and supplier Spirit AeroSystems that was launched after a door plug flew off a 737 Max 9 mid-air at 16,000 feet on Jan. 5.
The agency did not release its findings to the public, but a presentation detailing the results reviewed by the New York Times reveals a troubling and inconsistent manufacturing process.
Boeing failed 33 out of 89 product audits — a review of specific aspects in the production line — with a total of 97 counts of alleged noncompliance, the auditors found, according to the newspaper.
Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the body of the 737 Max jets, failed seven out of 13 product audits conducted by the FAA, the publication reported. One of its failures dealt with the installation of the plane’s door plug.
Some of the most shocking details from the presentation happened at Spirit AeroSytems’ fuselage manufacturing plant in Wichita, Kansas.
FAA auditors spotted mechanics from the company using a hotel key card to check the seal on a door in one instance and witnessed other Spirit mechanics applying liquid Dawn soap to a door seal “as a lubricant in the fit-up process,” the Times reported.
In the latter incident, the mechanics used a wet cheesecloth to wipe away the dish soap and clean the door seal. The document detailing the audit findings obtained by the outlet said that the instructions provided to mechanics were “vague and unclear on what specifications/actions are to be followed or recorded by the mechanic.”
A spokesperson for Spirit AeroSystems — which Boeing is in talks to reacquire — told the Times that the company is “reviewing all identified nonconformities for corrective action.”
Boeing did not immediately comment on the audit’s findings — which the FAA has refused to make public because of its ongoing investigation into the door plug incident on the Alaska Airlines flight and Boeing’s response to it.
The company must develop a comprehensive plan of action to address the “systemic quality-control issues” raised by the audit within 90 days.
The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the terrifying door panel blow-out and the Justice Department has opened a criminal probe into Boeing.
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