Two days of public hearings in Washington last week revealed that Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration had been aware of a critical cracking risk in the aft pylon of the Boeing MD-11 freighter for more than two decades before the component failed during the takeoff of UPS Flight 2976 in Louisville last November, killing all 15 people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigators presented evidence of at least ten prior incidents involving the same spherical bearing — the part believed to have fractured and initiated the catastrophic separation of the left engine and pylon — dating back to 2002. For the aviation industry, the hearings revived questions about whether the mechanisms that translate known risk into mandatory corrective action are fit for purpose.

Continue reading NTSB: Boeing Knew of Engine Pylon Risk for Two Decades

Two days of public hearings in Washington last week revealed that Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration had been aware of a critical cracking risk in the aft pylon of the Boeing MD-11 freighter for more than two decades before the component failed during the takeoff of UPS Flight 2976 in Louisville last November, killing all 15 people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigators presented evidence of at least ten prior incidents involving the same spherical bearing — the part believed to have fractured and initiated the catastrophic separation of the left engine and pylon — dating back to 2002. For the aviation industry, the hearings revived questions about whether the mechanisms that translate known risk into mandatory corrective action are fit for purpose.

Continue reading NTSB: Boeing Knew of Engine Pylon Risk for Two Decades