Federal aviation regulators are proposing safety fixes for more than 300 Boeing 767 jetliners to prevent the unexpected deployment of emergency escape slides.
The preliminary Federal Aviation Administration directive, which would apply directly only to Boeing 767s operated by U.S. carriers, was prompted by what the agency described as “multiple reports of uncommanded escape slide inflation.” Foreign carriers flying hundreds of other 767s eventually would be expected to comply with the FAA’s final mandate.
The agency apparently doesn’t view the problem as posing an imminent hazard, because it envisions giving some airlines nearly four years to make the fixes.
The FAA’s proposal is unusual because it concerns slides possibly opening during normal operations, not problems with deployment during emergencies.
The agency typically has ordered airlines to address suspect slides because they may have a propensity to deploy improperly or fail to deploy altogether in emergency situations. There have been numerous such mandates over the past 15 years affecting aircraft from Boeing Co. as well as other plane makers.
During that period, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has repeatedly weighed in to urge FAA action to ensure that all slides work as required in actual aircraft evacuations.
Some comThe Wall Street Journalmercial aircraft accidents, including an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 that crashed on approach to San Francisco International Airport in July 2013, have shown that evacuation slides don’t always operate as desired. In the Asiana crash, which killed three passengers, a pair of slides malfunctioned due to impact.
But this time the FAA is addressing a different problem. The agency wants airlines to replace certain valves that could cause premature or unwanted deployment of escape slides on 767s “during normal airplane maintenance or operations.” The result of such deployments, according to the FAA document, could be “injury to passengers and crew, damage to equipment, and the slide becoming unusable in an emergency evacuation.”
Boeing issued a nonbinding service bulletin in April, advising airlines world-wide about the problem and including instructions for completing the fixes. According to the FAA document posted on the Federal Register website Thursday, Boeing also issued an earlier service bulletin in November 2014.
The FAA didn’t elaborate on the incidents prompting its action and didn’t indicate they occurred while planes were airborne.
The FAA proposal, which entails modifying valves that help control slides attached to several different doors on 767 aircraft, is subject to industry and public comment before it becomes final.
Unwanted slide deployments can result in expensive schedule disruptions. Last spring, the leading global airline trade association issued operational guidelines to prevent such incidents, which it said posed “a serious safety threat” and could cost carriers $200,000 for a single event causing a cancelled flight.
The Wall Street Journal
FAA has proposed fix for 767 evac. slide issues
