- SEATTLE (AP) - U.S. government inspectors found a Boeing 737 assembly plant
violated nearly a dozen production procedures in making planes, the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer newspaper reported Saturday.
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- The mistakes were discovered this month
during inspections by a Federal Aviation Administration quality-assurance
team, the newspaper said. The inspections are part of an audit ordered
after a SilkAir Boeing 737-300 crashed in Indonesia in December, killing
all 104 people aboard.
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- A Boeing official familiar with the findings
who asked not to be named said the errors found were procedural and in
no way affect the safety of the 737s.
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- The assembly errors at the Boeing plant
in Renton, Wash., involved the 737 tail-wing sections, said the newspaper,
citing internal Boeing documents. A similar inspection at Boeing's Wichita,
Kan., facility found no problems. At both locations, the FAA teams focused
on the fabrication and installation of 737 horizontal stabilizers - the
wing-like structure on both sides of an aircraft's tail that help balance
an airplane. Investigators have said several fasteners and a bolt might
have been missing from the SilkAir plane that crashed.
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- The FAA and Boeing have both said there
is no evidence missing fasteners or bolts caused or contributed to the
crash, which remains under investigation.
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- Inspections on 211 Boeing 737s and factory
audits were ordered as a precaution in the wake of the crash.
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- Neither Boeing nor the FAA would comment
on the specifics of the Renton inspection.
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- The newspaper reported FAA inspectors
found: - Multiple occurrences of wrong-length fasteners being installed.
- Some tools used for inspections and manufacturing were not certified
or calibrated. - Quality-assurance inspectors failed to witness functional
tests and technicians conducting certain tests were not certified. - Multiple
instances of not doing accomplishing assembly jobs according to written
instructions. - Aluminum shims used for filling spaces were improperly
placed. - Incorrect corrosion preventative used.
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- "Our desire is for a totally clean
bill of health in all aspects of our factory operations," Boeing spokesman
Brian Ames said. "We are working aggressively right now to ensure
that bill of health. If the FAA determines that we have work to do, we
will be resolved to do that work."
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