Concerns about the potential for passenger oxygen masks to malfunction in an emergency prompted US aviation regulators to announce on Monday that hundreds of Boeing 737 aircraft would require inspections.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued an airworthiness directive that impacts over 2,600 aircraft registered in the United States and is effective immediately.
The goal is to guarantee that, on some Boeing aircraft, the oxygen generators in the passenger service units are positioned correctly.
According to a statement from the FAA, operators must inspect the oxygen generators and “perform corrective actions, if necessary, within 120 to 150 days.”
It further stated that numerous complaints of these generators moving out of position served as the impetus for the regulation, which ordered a general visual assessment.
Boeing responded to inquiries by stating that it was discovered that a new adhesive that was deployed in August 2019 occasionally allowed oxygen generator units to move from their placements.
Boeing instructed operators to replace some of the 737 oxygen generators’ restraining straps in June.
In order to guarantee that the generators stay in place, the company said that it has since switched back to using its original adhesive.
The news heightens a number of worries for Boeing.
Since an almost disastrous incident in January when a fuselage panel burst out of a 737 MAX operated by Alaska Airlines, the manufacturer has been under severe scrutiny.
Boeing announced earlier on Monday that it has struck a settlement with the US Department of Justice regarding the two fatal 737 MAX crashes. According to court filings, the airline will enter a guilty plea to fraud.
The prosecution had come to the conclusion that Boeing had broken a previous settlement on the incidents, which occurred more than five years ago and resulted in the deaths of 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia.
