Boeing has landed in hot water with US airline regulators — again — after the engine cowling fell off a 737 Max 8 on takeoff and struck a wing flap on a Southwest Airlines flight bound for Houston, TX.The plane, with 141 passengers and crew, had climbed to about 3,140 metres (10,300 feet) before it turned around and landed safely at Denver International Airport.It comes amid heightened scrutiny over alleged manufacturing and safety concerns at Boeing, one of the world’s largest aircraft makers..According to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the plane was made in 2015 and is an earlier rendition of the current 737 Max 9 that uses a slightly different engine model and configuration.Boeing has been under scrutiny after a mid-air door blowout in January, in which passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, OR, to California narrowly escaped serious injury. On Friday Alaska announced it had received an initial USD$160 million payment from Boeing for lost revenue as a result of the incident.The FAA promptly grounded 200 737 Max 9 jets for more than 18 months following a pair of crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people..“We apologize for the inconvenience of their delay, but place our highest priority on ultimate safety for our customers and employees,"Southwestern Airlines.In this case, however, it may not be Boeing that’s responsible, but rather the airline responsible for maintaining the plane.Southwest said it would review its maintenance procedures and confirmed it is ultimately responsible for the upkeep of the aircraft.“We apologize for the inconvenience of their delay, but place our highest priority on ultimate safety for our customers and employees," it said in a statement.
