NTSB issues urgent safety recommendations for Boeing 737 rudder after Newark incident

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The National Transportation Safety Board issued urgent safety advisories on Thursday about the possibility of the rudder control system jamming on some Boeing 737 planes following an incident on a United Airlines flight in February.

The NTSB is investigating an incident in which the rudder pedals of a United Boeing 737 MAX 8 became “stuck” in the neutral position during a landing in Newark. There were no injuries among the 161 passengers and crew.

United said the rudder control parts in question were used on only nine of its 737 planes originally built for other airlines. United said Thursday that all components were removed earlier this year.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it has been closely monitoring the situation and will on Friday “convene a corrective action review committee based on the NTSB's preliminary recommendations and determine next steps.”

The FAA said United Airlines was the only U.S. operator to have the components in service and believed they were no longer in use.

The NTSB recommended Thursday that Boeing notify flight crews that the rudder control system may stall due to moisture that has accumulated and frozen in the actuators, and that Boeing “in addition to applying maximum control” for such situations in flight or landing Pedal force also determines appropriate reactions of the flight crew”.

It also recommended that the FAA decide whether to remove some actuators made by Collins Aerospace, a unit of RTX, from aircraft and stop using the planes until replacement units are installed. The FAA is also supposed to notify international aviation regulators if they decide the components should be removed.

According to the NTSB, Collins Aerospace determined that a bearing was incorrectly assembled during production of the actuators and said more than 353 actuators delivered to Boeing since February 2017 were affected by this condition.

Boeing did not immediately comment. RTX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Marguerita Choy)