Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing’s supplier for 737 Max, steps up inspections

Spirit AeroSystems – Boeing’s supplier that built the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 that had a panel blow out mid-flight earlier this month – is stepping up its inspections, according to a note Spirit CEO Pat Shanahan sent to employees Tuesday.

“There have been learnings from the airplane inspections to date and there will be more,” Shanahan wrote. “One important takeaway is that we can take steps now to improve our first-pass quality.”

“We must work in lock step with Boeing to enhance quality assurance and controls across our production system,” he continued.

Spirit’s message comes a day after Boeing said it will also introduce new measures to strengthen its quality control system and ensure its planes are safe to operate before they take to the skies. Those new measures include an independent outside assessment of Boeing’s airplane assembly practices and opening its factory doors to inspectors from the airlines whose jets they are building.

Boeing, Spirit and the airlines that operate the 737 Max 9 came under fire when a piece of fuselage blew off at 16,000 feet in the air on a flight out of Portland. The panel that blew off during the Jan. 5 incident was a door plug filling a hole where an emergency exit could be installed.

The plane returned safely to Portland International Airport, where some passengers were treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all Max 9 planes that fill the hole with a door plug. The planes remain grounded while Alaska and United Airlines – the only U.S.-based airlines to operate the Max 9 – inspect each aircraft. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the inspection into the fuselage blowout.

In the days since the incident, passengers have sued Boeing and Alaska, the FAA has opened an investigation and an audit into Boeing’s processes for ensuring its planes are safe to fly and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, has asked for into Boeing.

On Tuesday, roughly 1,100 people signed a petition demanding a congressional investigation into Boeing’s quality and the company’s leadership. The effort was led by a contingent of families and friends of the victims of the Boeing 737 Max 8 that crashed in Ethiopia in March 2019.

“We cannot rely only upon accident investigators to determine the broader truth of Boeing’s failures,” the petition read.

It calls on the Senate Commerce Committee, which Cantwell chairs, and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to “conduct a comprehensive investigation” into the fuselage blowout on Alaska Flight 1282, “the pattern of Boeing Max quality failures, and the ability and willingness of the Boeing board to reform corporate dedication to safety.”

Members of the Commerce Committee had already planned a meeting for Wednesday with NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The meeting is not an oversight hearing, but a chance for members of the committee to ask questions, the person said. They don’t expect the NTSB or the FAA will reveal new information at the closed-door session.

Spirit AeroSystems, based in Wichita, Kansas, assembles the entire fuselage of the Max jet, including the plugged door panel that flew off. The parts then arrive at Boeing’s Renton plant by train.

There, Boeing mechanics and quality inspectors complete the cabin interior – adding wiring, insulation, sidewalls, seats, galley and lavatories.

As part of its increased oversight, Spirit said Tuesday it would add more inspections, focus on risk management efforts, and align audits and oversight with the airlines, Boeing and the FAA.

It plans to add inspections that will replicate the assessments United and Alaska Airlines are currently performing to ensure the planes are set to return to service. Those inspections are following instructions issued from Boeing that must be approved by the FAA. The FAA said last week it would not approve the instructions fully until it reviewed data from the first 40 inspections.

Spirit also said it would increase communication with front-line employees in order to increase those workers’ “focus and knowledge” on the company’s quality management system.

The company already performs thousands of operations on each 737 fuselage, and validates those with more than 9,000 inspections, according to Shanahan’s note.

“We will be measured, meticulous and disciplined in our efforts going forward, which is the same approach we must take as we perform each and every job,” Shanahan wrote. “Our end customers and their passengers are depending on us to do so.”

On Tuesday, Boeing named Adm. Kirkland Donald, a retired U.S. Navy director, to lead an assessment into its manufacturing facilities and its oversight of commercial supplier quality.

Donald and a team of outside experts will assess Boeing’s programs and practices in its manufacturing facilities and its oversight of commercial supplier quality, the company said in a news release. The team will then offer recommendations to Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun and the aerospace safety committee of Boeing’s Board of Directors.

Donald “will have any and all support he needs from me and from across The Boeing Company,” Calhoun said in a statement.