Boeing Crashes Four Days in a Row

Also read: Boeing Proven to Have Failed Dozens of Security Checks

The Boeing 737 was supposed to land in Guam on Friday afternoon. However, after just leaving Fukuoka, the plane with 50 passengers on board returned. The flight crew of UA166 reported an anomaly on the wing to air traffic controllers, resulting in the aircraft making a right turn back.

The Japanese Ministry of Transportation has not yet provided further explanation regarding the reason for the aircraft's right turn. In a preliminary statement, it was only mentioned that the plane made an emergency landing. As a result, Fukuoka Airport was temporarily closed on Friday afternoon.

Another plane

The accident in Fukuoka happened a day after a Boeing 737-800 made an emergency landing at Gazipasa Airport in Alanya, Turkey. The aircraft, operated by Corendon Airlines, flew from Cologne, Germany, early Thursday morning.

There were six crew members and 184 passengers on the plane. Turkish authorities or Corendon Airlines have not issued any further statements.

In video and photo recordings on social media, the front wheel can be seen broken. In addition, the plane was surrounded by ambulances and fire trucks at Gazipasa Airport. However, there was no fire on the plane.

Also read: Boeing continues to be unlucky, tires come off and steering jams at United Airlines

Fire and smoke were actually seen on the Boeing 737-300 operated by Air Senegal. The plane made an emergency landing at Dakar Airport on Thursday afternoon. The Air Senegal incident occurred several hours after Corendon Airlines.

The Air Senegal accident occurred during the takeoff process of the plane. The process failed and the plane instead slid and caught fire.

Sparks and smoke were also seen coming from the Boeing 767 that made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport, Turkey, on Wednesday. The cargo plane operated by the US expeditions company, FedEx, lost its front landing gear wheel.

Another incident occurred on Tuesday (7/5/2024). The Air France-operated Boeing 787-900 plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Canada. The plane, which departed from Paris and was supposed to head to Seattle, USA, detected a burning smell in the cabin throughout the flight, causing the Paris to Seattle route to be diverted to Canada.

Investigation

Until now there is no evidence that Boeing is related to this series of accidents. There is only the fact that products made by the US aerospace giant continue to have problems.

Moreover, these accidents occurred when Boeing was still under investigation by the US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA). The latest investigation is based on the confession of several Boeing employees and former employees or Boeing suppliers.

One of them was interviewed by BBC and CBS. A man named Santiago Paredes admitted that he is reluctant to board all kinds of Boeing 737. This is because the aircraft is equipped with a number of spare parts made by the factory where he used to work.

Also read: Boeing Fails to Maintain Security, Passengers Refuse to Fly

Paredes used to be a quality inspector at Spirit AeroSystems, one of Boeing's suppliers. Before becoming a separate company, Spirit AeroSystems was a subsidiary of Boeing. Paredes' unit specifically produced spare parts for the Boeing 737.

According to Paredes, the management ordered falsification of product quality data. The form of falsification is to cover up the potential and estimated damage. Hundreds of Paredes' findings were ignored by the management and the spare parts were still sent to be used in Boeing.

Counterfeiting is dangerous because parts can be used longer than they should be. Exceeding the time limit opens up the potential for damaged parts while the aircraft is in flight. "It's only a matter of time before something bad happens because of damaged parts," he said.

So far, he is the only witness of the Boeing case who dares to speak openly to the public. Prior to this, news about Boeing witnesses were the deaths of two important witnesses. (AFP/REUTERS)