The American aviation authority FAA announced on Friday that it will impose stricter supervision on the production process of the Boeing 737 MAX 9. The Federal Aviation Administration is doing this in response to the incident with an Alaska Airlines aircraft, in which a plug (an inactive emergency door) during a flight had come loose.

The FAA said in a statement that, among other things, an audit will take place on the MAX 9 production line, "to evaluate whether Boeing has adhered to quality procedures." The aircraft manufacturer's suppliers are also included. "It is time to reassess the risks surrounding the 737 MAX 9," said the FAA's Mike Whitaker. "The grounding of the MAX 9 and the many production-related issues that have come to light in recent years require us to rethink the entire process."

The FAA also said in the statement that "passenger safety is paramount to returning the MAX 9 to service," and that the speed of this process is secondary to safety.

The aviation authority previously decided to temporarily ground 171 MAX 9s with the same emergency door configuration as the Alaska Airlines aircraft as a precaution. On Thursday, the FAA also announced it would launch a formal investigation.

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)