US investigators have revealed that Boeing was aware of a structural flaw in the part of the aircraft responsible for last month's UPS plane crash, which claimed the lives of 15 people. The MD-11F freighter crashed after one of its engines separated from the wing during takeoff, sending it careening into an industrial area.
According to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), cracks were found in the engine mounting assembly on this particular plane, but Boeing had identified similar problems on other aircraft 15 years ago. The company had previously found failures of a similar part on four occasions affecting three different planes.
Boeing had taken steps to address the issue, recommending that operators include a general visual inspection every five years and draw attention to a revised bearing assembly that could be fitted. However, it is unclear why Boeing did not take more decisive action to prevent this specific problem from occurring.
Critics of Boeing's internal processes say that the company's prioritization of cost-cutting measures over safety has led to repeated lapses in quality control. The 737 Max crisis, which involved flawed software and multiple accidents resulting in 346 deaths, highlighted these concerns.
The NTSB has expressed disappointment at Boeing's response to previous warnings about this particular part, saying that the issue was not adequately addressed. "It's extraordinary that Boeing concluded that a failure of this part would not have safety consequences," said Tim Atkinson, a former air accident investigator and current aviation safety consultant.
Boeing has since issued a statement expressing its condolences to those affected and promising to continue supporting the NTSB's investigation. However, critics argue that more needs to be done to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
The full extent of Boeing's knowledge about this specific flaw will become clear once the NTSB releases its final report on the accident.
According to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), cracks were found in the engine mounting assembly on this particular plane, but Boeing had identified similar problems on other aircraft 15 years ago. The company had previously found failures of a similar part on four occasions affecting three different planes.
Boeing had taken steps to address the issue, recommending that operators include a general visual inspection every five years and draw attention to a revised bearing assembly that could be fitted. However, it is unclear why Boeing did not take more decisive action to prevent this specific problem from occurring.
Critics of Boeing's internal processes say that the company's prioritization of cost-cutting measures over safety has led to repeated lapses in quality control. The 737 Max crisis, which involved flawed software and multiple accidents resulting in 346 deaths, highlighted these concerns.
The NTSB has expressed disappointment at Boeing's response to previous warnings about this particular part, saying that the issue was not adequately addressed. "It's extraordinary that Boeing concluded that a failure of this part would not have safety consequences," said Tim Atkinson, a former air accident investigator and current aviation safety consultant.
Boeing has since issued a statement expressing its condolences to those affected and promising to continue supporting the NTSB's investigation. However, critics argue that more needs to be done to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
The full extent of Boeing's knowledge about this specific flaw will become clear once the NTSB releases its final report on the accident.
like it just hit me - all these years we've been hearing about the 737 max crisis and now another plane crash... seems like safety shouldn't be an afterthought but a priority 
Boeing's gotta step up their game! Interesting that they knew about this issue 15 years ago but didn't do anything about it 
i mean what if they had taken those steps seriously from 15 yrs ago? wouldn't we be talking about a plane crash that didn't happen? 
it's crazy how cost-cutting can take priority over human lives 
and to think the ntsb has been warning them for years but no one listened 
this is gonna be a huge scandal, i'm keeping an eye on those investigations closely 
it's just so senseless & devastating to think those 15 people were taken away from us far too soon 
as a retiree who's seen my fair share of changes in the world, I've come to realize that companies have to balance profits with people's lives 
and now we're left wondering why they didn't listen to those warnings earlier 
.
. It's like they're more worried about making that dough than keeping people safe 
. They're like "oh, we'll just include a visual inspection every five years" 
... no, that's not good enough! You can't just slap a Band-Aid on this kind of problem and expect it to be okay 
.
. We need to make sure this never happens again 
i mean we've all heard about the 737 max scandal and now it seems like they knew about a huge structural flaw that could've been prevented if they just followed safety guidelines... it's so frustrating that they prioritized saving cash over people's lives 
, but 15 years is a looong time to be working on a problem and still have it happen... like what's the deal with that? They had issues before, recommended changes, but didn't do more. It's like they were just "good enough" 
.
Like, what's the point of having a safety protocol if you're just gonna gloss over it every time? 
. I mean, Boeing should've taken more drastic measures to fix this issue instead of just recommending some minor tweaks 
. This whole thing is like a ticking time bomb waiting to happen... 
like, what were they even waiting for? it's not like this part was gonna magically fix itself or something 
i mean, we're all in this together, right? so let's make sure our leaders are looking out for us, you know? 