NTSB letter says FAA isn’t taking 737 safety issue seriously enough

The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board issued a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration administrator Tuesday saying the FAA did not seem to be taking seriously NTSB safety recommendations for a recently-identified issue with a Boeing 737 part.
The NTSB issued an urgent safety recommendation on Friday, warning that a rudder control component on some Boeing 737 models could become non-functional in certain cold weather conditions.
In response to that release, the FAA said it had addressed the issue and was not aware of any affected parts being in service at U.S. airlines.
Monday’s letter from the NTSB chair suggests that the FAA was not doing all it could to address the issue and, moreover, that it was inaccurate to say the part was not in service at U.S. carriers.
“I remain concerned that the FAA, as a whole, did not take this issue more seriously until we issued our urgent safety recommendation report,” NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy wrote in the letter. “I am disappointed that it does not appear that the FAA has initiated urgent actions to address the risk of jammed rudder controls in the 6 months since our preliminary report on this incident was issued.”
The NTSB’s inquiry was prompted by a loss of control incident on a United Airlines flight in February. Monday’s letter said the agency learned of two similar incidents from 2019 involving foreign carriers. The letter also said it is incorrect for the FAA to suggest that the parts are no longer in service on U.S. airlines.
According to the NTSB, based on information it received from Boeing and the part manufacturer, as many as 16 of the affected part may still be in service on U.S. aircraft, with hundreds more possibly installed or stocked as spares globally.
The NTSB’s letter also dinged Boeing for not alerting other airlines to the potentially faulty parts more proactively.
In response to the letter, the FAA issued a statement saying it takes seriously all suggestions from the NTSB.
“The FAA is moving quickly to convene a call with the affected civil aviation authorities to ensure they have the information they need from the FAA including any recommended actions,” the statement said. “The FAA will be issuing a Continued Airworthiness Notification to the International Community (CANIC). The FAA is also scheduled to do additional simulator testing in October.”
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at [email protected].