NTSB Issues 'Urgent' Safety Warning On Rudder Systems Of Some Boeing 737 Planes

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued "urgent safety recommendations" on critical flight controls for some of Boeing's 737 planes, including the 737 MAX line, adding more woes to the struggling company.

The NTSB gave its recommendation to both Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration following a Feb. 6, 2024 incident, which involved a Boeing 737 MAX variant of United Airlines, where the rudder pedals got "stuck" while in their neutral position. The incident happened at the Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey during the landing rollout.

NTSB also pointed out that there was no damage to the plane or any injury to its passengers and crew members.

"Boeing's 737 flight manual instructs pilots confronted with a jammed or restricted rudder to 'overpower the jammed or restricted system (using) maximum force, including a combined effort of both pilots,'" the NTSB stated.

"The NTSB expressed concern that this amount of force applied during landing or rollout could result in a large input to the rudder pedals and a sudden, large, and undesired rudder deflection that could unintentionally cause loss of control or departure from a runway," it added.

It also recommended for the company to "'determine appropriate flight crew responses besides applying maximum pedal force' for such situations in flight or during landing."

In addition, the NTSB also recommended that the FAA determine whether actuators with incorrectly assembled bearings need to be removed from the airplanes.

"And if so, to direct U.S. operators to do so until replacements are available," the statement read.

The FAA said it was "monitoring the situation closely." It also said that it would be convening a "corrective action review board" that would be based on the interim recommendations of the NTSB, CNN reported.

While such was the case, the warning still added to the consecutive ugly reports about the company. One can recall that in January this year, Boeing faced backlash over a mid-air blowout of a door plug. Several months later, the company had to deal with a strike of 33,000 of its workforce.

The last five years have not been a very welcoming one for Boeing as it dealt with issue after issue, most of which caused financial burden and regulatory scrutiny.

There were two fatal crashes involving a 737 Max, one in October 2018 and another in March 2019. The crashes resulted in many deaths and also the grounding of the best-selling plane of the company for 20 months.