The Federal Aviation Administration said the inspection of production lines in Seattle and Boeing's quality control procedures would begin Dec. 2 and likely run through February. Although Boeing receives a broad quality inspection every two years, special audits are conducted when specific problems come to the FAA's attention. Boeing's last special audit was completed in February 1998 over missing fasteners in 737 tail assemblies. FAA found only minor quality problems of no safety significance.
Pilot suicide is now the focus of investigators' work.
Boeing earlier this month had to fix faulty cockpit drip shields that failed flammability tests in about 50 airplanes in production. A similar fire danger issue has arisen with air-conditioning ducts that had too much adhesive applied to them. The duct problem applies to 747s, 767s and some 757s and 737s. Boeing also said this month that tail bolts on hundreds of 767 jetliners may have been inadequately tightened due to a mix-up in two tools used to tighten the fasteners of the vertical fin. In a fourth problem, FAA said Monday that Boeing had discovered that a corrosion inhibitor applied to fuel tank access doors was not adhering properly due to a change in the type of cleaning fluid used to prepare the surface.