United Airlines find Loose Hardware In Jet Inspections

Bolts in need of “additional tightening” have been found during inspections of Boeing 737 Max 9s, United Airlines has said.

United Airlines said “installation issues” relating to door plugs would be “remedied” before the aircraft type would return to service.

Inspections began after a section of the fuselage fell from an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 on Friday.

Alaska Airlines says it has since found “some loose hardware” on some Max 9s.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates air travel in the US, has grounded 171 planes of the same type.

United said: “Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug – for example, bolts that needed additional tightening.”

The door plug is a piece of fuselage, with a window, that fills the space where an emergency exit would be in certain configurations.

It was this part of the Alaska Airlines plane which dramatically fell off mid-flight over the US state of Oregon, eventually landing in a teacher’s back garden.

The plane made an emergency landing but none of the passengers or crew were seriously injured.

The vast majority of Boeing 737 Max 9s used in the US are operated by United Airlines and Alaska, while Turkish Airlines, Panama’s Copa Airlines and Aeromexico have also grounded jets of the same model for inspections.

BBC