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More problems for 737 Max and NG

Posted by (Northamptonshire, England) on

from Reuters:

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday issued a new
safety directive for Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) and MAX airplanes
to address a potential issue with reduced fire suppression
capabilities.

The FAA said planes may have a failed electronic flow control of the
air conditioning packs that vent air into the cargo hold from other
areas of the plane. The directive prohibits operators from
transporting cargo in the cargo hold if airplanes are operating with
this condition unless they can verify items are nonflammable and
noncombustible.

The FAA said the directive covers all Boeing 737 8, 737 9, and 737
8200 MAX airplanes and some 737-800 and 737-900ER series airplanes.

Boeing did not immediately comment.

The airworthiness directive impacts 663 airplanes registered in the
United States and approximately 2,204 worldwide.

Operators must comply with this directive beginning 10 days after date
of publication.

Posted by
7937 posts

This is another surprising turn in a plane design that seems to be plagued with criticism, despite what good attributes it might have - or are there redeeming qualities on any level? Hopefully there’s no catastrophic fire in the next 10 days, before the directive has to be followed.

So there’s a problem with the air exchange in the plane design? I wonder how that affects the filtering of the cabin air, which has been analyzed at length for passenger planes, and what that means for having an atmosphere free of Covid-19 particles.

Posted by
11877 posts

The 737 NG has been flying since 1997. I am not aware of any having burst into flames.
The prospect any will do so in in the next 10 days is exceedingly remote.

I would be more concerned about being hit by a meteor.

The news release is so sparse on details it is pointless to speculate and impossible to draw any meaningful conclusion about anything.

Posted by
8055 posts

For what it is worth, few, if any, passenger flights carry anything flammable or combustible in the hold. Might be a concern with cargo aircraft, but overall, a non-issue.

Posted by
33820 posts

I'd have thought that most luggage is combustible - meaning it could catch fire.

Even a wooden crate for animals.

Or cardboard boxes in a container...

Posted by
6970 posts

This is another surprising turn in a plane design that seems to be
plagued with criticism, despite what good attributes it might have -
or are there redeeming qualities on any level?

The 737 is from the 1960s and Boeing has struggled to modernize it while still being able to call it a 737, since they would not be able to certify it as a new aircraft today. That has caused some issues.

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