12/23/2015
NEWS BRIEFS
The Federal Aviation Administration recently handed down two significant fines related to aerospace fasteners.
Boeing agreed to pay $2 million to solve issues involving Boeing’s delay in addressing incorrectly shaped fasteners used on airliners, the FAA said.
“In September 2008, Boeing discovered that it had been installing the incorrect fasteners in 777 airliners,” writes Joan Lowy of the Associated Press.
Boeing implemented a plan to address the fastener issue in November 2010, more than two years after the company first learned of the problem.
The FAA first proposed fining Boeing $2.7 million for the fastener problem in 2013.
“As a company we take responsibility for our actions,” the company stated.
In related news, Southwest Airlines agreed to pay a $2.8 million civil penalty to settle a lawsuit over maintenance of dozens of its Boeing 737 aircraft.
The case involved “fasteners and supporting equipment that ensure that plane fuselages withstand the forces of flying at different altitudes and temperatures,” according to Bart Jansen of USA Today.
In the lawsuit, the government alleged that Southwest’s maintenance contractor, Aviation Technical Services of Everett, WA, “improperly installed fasteners and sealant between the patchwork of fuselage skin on 44 planes from 2006 through 2009.”
During the same time frame, the lawsuit also said that shoring to reinforce the plane’s structural integrity wasn’t maintained properly on the 44 planes.
Each violation could have been assessed a fine of $25,000.
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