Boeing 737 MAX Airplanes Found to Have More Electrical Defects.
The Foundation for Aviation Safety
Despite more than 10 years of design and development work, single point of failure scenarios have been piling up and compounding because of design and manufacturing flaws missed during the original certification and the 20-month recertification. As recently as January 2024, United Airlines has made at least three “unscheduled landings” due to Engine Anti-Ice (EAI) fault indications.
The Foundation for Aviation Safety strongly opposes the recent decision by the FAA to allow MAX airplanes to fly without correcting several urgent safety issues. Engineering design and production issues go well beyond the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 “door plug blowout” accident.
The latest design defect requires modifications to the Standby Power Control Unit (SPCU). This is the third time that Boeing has reported a serious electrical defect in the SPCU since the airplane returned to service after a 20-month “comprehensive” and “grueling” recertification by the FAA. The recertification followed, and was precipitated by, two fatal crashes that killed 346 people.
The following documents a brief history regarding the issues with the Standby Power Control Unit (SPCU):
On April 7, 2021, just four months after the 737 MAX airplane returned to service, the FAA was advised by Boeing that design changes to the P6 panel assemblies had created an urgent unsafe condition. On April 9, 2021, Boeing recommended grounding affected airplanes. Degraded electrical bonding was found to affect the standby power control unit (SPCU) and the engine anti-ice (EAI) system, as well as the potential loss of other critical functions (including multiple simultaneous flight deck effects). (ref: FAA Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2021-09-08, dated April 30, 2021)
On August 7, 2023, another AD was proposed after the FAA was advised by Boeing that the loss of electrical ground through the P6 panel results in the failure in the SPCU. A design error led to the elimination of a redundant ground path to the SPCU tray, which introduces a single point of failure, leading to a potentially confusing combination of flight deck effects and lost functionality.
On August 10, 2023, FAA notified the public of an urgent unsafe condition with the Engine Anti-Ice (EAI) system. The use of EAI in dry air for more than five minutes can result in severe engine inlet cowl damage from overheating of the new composite inner barrel structure introduced for the MAX. (ref: FAA AD 2023-15-05, dated August 10, 2023)
On February 14, 2024, FAA proposed yet another AD that corrects a single point of failure within the SPCU, leading to un-annunciated loss of control and indication of both EAI systems.
An ever-growing number of ADs, production quality defects, FAA safety reports, NASA safety reports, engineering exemption requests, and inflight incidents, clearly indicate a preponderance of issues threatening the safety of 737 MAX airplanes.
The Foundation for Aviation Safety urges DOT Secretary Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Whitaker to reconsider the safety of the 737 MAX fleet. It is the opinion of the Foundation that Boeing 737 MAX airplanes should not continue to fly until all critical safety issues have been resolved.
The Foundation for Aviation Safety
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