A severe and potentially catastrophic flaw has been identified in nearly 300 Boeing 777 jets operated by major airlines, including United and American Airlines.
This flaw, rooted in an electrical issue, poses a risk of causing the aircraft’s wing fuel tanks to ignite and explode, a recent investigation by Daily Mail has disclosed.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) highlighted this concern in a notice issued on March 25, 2024, which revealed that an “electrostatic discharge” near the center-wing fuel tanks could act as an ignition source, leading to a possible fire or explosion.
Boeing has been given a deadline until May 9 to address these issues, although their response remains pending. The proposed fix involves the installation of new electrical bonding and grounding measures around the air intake system near the center-wing fuel tanks.
According to the FAA, this fix would cost less than $698,000 for all affected aircraft within the U.S., with individual parts priced at merely $98 per plane.
The urgency of these repairs was underscored by a recent testimony from whistleblower Sam Salehpour during Senate hearings. Salehpour accused Boeing of compromising on safety standards and using unapproved techniques during the assembly of the 777 jets.
He described witnessing workers using improper methods to align parts, sometimes resorting to physically jumping on components to fit them into place.
Daily Mail reported:
Less than two weeks after the order’s May 9 deadline, one 73-year-old was dead and 23 more were injured when nearby lightning and electrical storms led to ‘sudden extreme turbulence’ for a Singapore Airlines flight onboard a 777.
That death and the FAA warning join controversies already swirling the aerospace giant and its ‘triple seven’ aircrafts — including Senate testimony by a whistleblower who has accused Boeing of taking shortcuts when building the 777.
the FAA’s March 25, 2024 ‘airworthiness directive’ to Boeing has raised new concerns about the 777 series of aircraft, which are among the bestselling long haul aircraft in the world and the first commercial jets designed entirely by computer.
The nitrogen enriched air distribution system (NEADS), which helps keep combustible oxygen away from the plane’s jet fuel, according to the FAA, ‘was installed without a designed electrical bond […] in the center wing tank.’
Five models of the ‘triple sevens’ were called out by the FAA’s order, including the Boeing 777F, 777–200, –200LR, –300, and the –300ER, which was the exact model involved in this Monday’s fatal Singapore Airlines incident.
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