United Airlines finds loose bolts on several 737 MAX planes, raising pressure on Boeing

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Boeing's latest 737 MAX crisis deepened on Monday after United Airlines said it had found loose bolts on multiple grounded MAX 9 aircraft, raising new concerns among industry experts about how its best-selling jet family is manufactured...

U.S. regulators grounded 171 MAX 9 planes after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines-operated flight not long after taking off from a Portland, Oregon, airport on Friday, forcing pilots to scramble to land the plane safely...

United, one of the two U.S. carriers that fly this Boeing model with the panels, said its own preliminary checks found bolts that needed tightening on several panels..

A source familiar with the matter said United has so far found closer to 10 airplanes with loose bolts during its preliminary checks, up from an initial five first reported by industry publication The Air Current, and the figure may increase.. There are still ongoing discussions between Boeing, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the airlines on the precise inspection guidelines...

She again called on regulators to mandate retrofitting existing planes with recorders that capture 25 hours of data, up from the two hours required in the U.S. at present.. Alaska Airlines cancelled 141 flights, or 20% of its scheduled departures, on Monday after grounding its 65 MAX 9s..

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