The airplane maker called for the inspections after an international operator discovered a bolt with a missing nut, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
An airplane’s rudder is used to control the aircraft while in flight.
“The issue identified on the particular airplane has been remedied,” Boeing said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we are recommending operators inspect their 737 Max airplanes and inform us of any findings. We informed the FAA and our customers and will continue to keep them aware of the progress.”
The FAA said it was “closely monitoring targeted inspections of Boeing 737 Max airplanes to look for a possible loose bolt in the rudder control system”.
Boeing has recommended that the checks - which take only about two hours - happen within the next two weeks.
Any problems involving a faulty rudder would likely be identified in a pre-flight check, as crews routinely examine the rudder system before flying, Boeing said.
I was immediately reminded of Alaska Airlines Flight 261:
However, that crash was caused by a failure of a nut on the horizontal trim system and so not relevant.
There was also the defective shear bolts on old 747’s that led to a cargo plane crashing on take off from Amsterdam airport in 1992. These shear bolts held the engines in place and were designed to “shear off” if the engine hit a solid object. The idea is that the engine would shear off and the wing would not be badly damaged. Unfortunately some of the bolts proved to be defective and on this flight they sheared off due to the vibration and forces on take off. Boeing had to get all bolts in service, installed on planes and in storage as spares, replaced.
That article is somewhat disconcerting as my eldest granddaughter and her husband are regular fliers on BA 787-8 Dreamliners. If the 737 has faulty bolts, then other models could have similar faults too including 787’s
I actually doubt that such faults will be present in other aircraft models. There are very few aircraft that share components. The old 757/767 planes did have some common elements as these aircraft were developed together. But mostly each aircraft is designed on its own and components designed & made just for that model. There are lots of reasons for this but performance, weight and space available are the key drivers. My insight comes from working for companies that made complex aircraft components back in the 1980’s & 90’s.
Again! This time a whole window and a chunk of fuselage of a Boeing 737-9 Max popped off at a height of 4,800 metres.
There’s something fundamentally rotten…
