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Boeing's new 737s may have control defect: FAA

US aviation regulators said they ordered airlines to check nine Boeing Co 737 planes, manufactured this year, for potential defects in an electronic component that helps control aircraft movements.

The Federal Aviation Administration order probably will lead to similar actions by civil aviation authorities around the world, the agency said. A total of 93 planes worldwide have been identified as having this defect, said Laura Brown, an FAA spokeswoman.

The defect was found only in some of the newest 737s, said Paul Takemoto, an FAA spokesman. Two US air carriers own the nine planes, Takemoto said. He wouldn't name the airlines. The defect hasn't caused any accidents, he said.

"This defect relates to a very specific number of [planes] that we have targeted," Takemoto said. "This measure will keep it from being a serious problem."

Fifteen failures of the components, manufactured for Boeing since May 21 by a Smiths Group Plc unit, have been identified, said Brown. The components help control the flow of hydraulic fluid to help planes bank, roll, move up and down, and from side to side.

Eleven of the failures were discovered in testing at Boeing.

Another four were reported by airline personnel.

The defect causes the hydraulic fluid to get backed up, making it difficult for pilots to move flight controls, the FAA has said.

The components, in pairs of two, may be in 78 of the 737s -- mostly outside the US, Takemoto said. The remaining 15 planes likely have only one of the potentially defective components, he said.

Airlines have to replace the parts immediately if the plane has two of these defective parts. If a plane has only one, the airline personnel will do an additional test on the hydraulic system before each flight until they replace the part, the FAA's Brown said.

Spokesmen for Boeing and Smiths Aerospace didn't immediately return telephone calls.

The FAA is notifying aviation regulators worldwide of the action, and those agencies typically follow the US agency's guidance with identical or similar orders, Brown said.

The defect played no role in two past 737 fatal accidents blamed on a jammed rudder, the FAA has said.

Those accidents were the March 1991 crash of a United Airlines flight near Colorado Springs, Colorado, that killed all 25 people aboard and a 1994 USAir Group Inc plane crash in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, that killed 132 people. USAir Group was later renamed US Airways Group Inc.
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