Boeing is facing scrutiny after a series of concerning incidents involving its aircraft this week. It has brought the aviation industry under the microscope after a string of recent mishaps unfolded, beginning with a door blowing off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 on January 5.
In the latest incident, a United Airlines plane from San Francisco built by Boeing was grounded on Friday after it was found to be missing a panel after it touched down.
On March 8, a United Airlines Boeing 737 Max veered off the runway at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston after landing. Thankfully, there were no injuries, but the 160 passengers and crew had to be evacuated after the plane got stuck in the grass.
The windshield on an Alaska Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., cracked as it made its descent into Portland International Airport on Sunday night. The crack comes after a series of mishaps involving Boeing planes since the start of the year.
In January, a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliner shortly after it took off from Portland International Airport. The blowout prompted several investigations and the grounding of similar planes.
On Monday, the CEO of United Airlines was moved to reassure passengers that the airline is safe after two recent incidents involving Boeing aircraft.
They include a wheel falling from an Osaka-bound jet in early March and a panel blowing off a plane shortly after it took off from San Francisco last week.
Last Friday, a Boeing 737 jet was found to have a missing panel after it landed in Oregon. A tyre also fell from a United Boeing 777 shortly after taking off from LAX.
The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating the worrying incidents, which United Airlines described as ‘all unrelated’ in an email to customers. He also stressed how the company will use what it learns from safety training and procedures.
The incident is the latest from the embattled manufacturer and the seventh involving a Boeing plane in 10 days. Just three days before, a Boeing plane was forced to land due to hydraulic fluid spewing from its landing gear area. It was also a United flight.
After the incident last Monday—and another hour before that saw 50 passengers injured on the firm’s flagship 787-Dreamliner that took a sudden nosedive, believed to have been caused after a pilot’s seat slammed into the control column.
The FAA has since revealed the firm failed 33 of 89 audits during an exam of Boeing’s 737 Max – a model it had been planning to update with the long-delayed Max 10.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating nine incidents this month alone involving United planes.
