It’s a case of adding insult to injury.Even as embattled aircraft manufacturer Boeing was cleared to return its equally embattled 737 Max-9 to service, the Federal Aviation Administration reported troubles with a 757 that lost a nose wheel in preparation for take off.According to an FAA incident report, the nose wheel “came off and rolled down the hill” while the plane was lining up to take off from Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta, GA.The Delta Air Lines flight was supposed to fly to Bogotá, Colombia on January 20. Nobody was injured and all passengers aboard were forced to take a replacement flight. The airline declined comment on the incident and instead referred all inquiries to Boeing, which also declined to comment on the matter.The FAA is investigating..“We grounded the Boeing 737-9 Max within hours of the incident over Portland and made clear this aircraft would not go back into service until it was safe,”FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker .It comes as Boeing on Thursday was cleared to resume flying the 737 Max-9 after an incident in early January that saw a door plug blown off the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines flight in Oregon.In a press release, the FAA said the January 5 incident “must never happen again.” However, production lines for the 737 Max are shut indefinitely “until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved.”“We grounded the Boeing 737-9 Max within hours of the incident over Portland and made clear this aircraft would not go back into service until it was safe,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said. “The quality assurance issues we have seen are unacceptable. That is why we will have more boots on the ground closely scrutinizing and monitoring production and manufacturing activities.” .Following a series of fatal crashes with the 737 Max-8 in early 2023, the FAA convened 24 experts to review Boeing’s safety management processes and how they affect Boeing’s safety culture. The FAA expects the report within weeks.Meanwhile, the company is facing a public and corporate backlash from travellers and airlines leery of flying on, or flying Boeing aircraft. Travel booking sites are allowing users to filter flights by aircraft type, effectively allowing them to bypass the 737 altogether.Meanwhile, United — which flies the largest fleet of Max-9s in the world, warned that the groundings would result in an earnings hit resulting in a first quarter loss. CEO Scott Kirby told MSNBC the company is reconsidering a massive, multi-billion dollar order for at least 100 of the Max-10 — a larger, uncertified 737 variant — that’s already five years delayed.“I think the Max 9 grounding is probably the straw that broke the camel’s back for us,” he said. “We’re going to at least build a plan that doesn’t have the Max 10 in it.”Boeing is one of the largest manufacturers in the US and the largest exporter of aerospace products — of any kind — in the world.
