Boeing Says Five Percent of Checked 737 NG Aircraft Have Cracks

The results of an investigation have appeared amid an ongoing scandal which emerged after two Boeing 737 Max aircraft crashed in Indonesia in October 2018 and in Ethiopia in March 2019 leaving 346 people dead. In the wake of the catastrophes, all countries around the world suspended Boeing 737 Max flights.

Upon examining 810 Boeing 737 NG jets, Boeing Co. stated that 38 aircraft need repairing and will be decommissioned immediately. The problems have been found in a "pickle fork" - a crack that could put the entire structural integrity of the aircraft at risk.

Earlier on Wednesday, Southwest Airlines Co and Brazil's Gol Linhas Aereas removed from service 13 Boeing 737 NG after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched a thorough inspection of its Boeing 737 NG air fleet to check for "cracking of the left and right hand side outboard chords of frame fittings and failsafe straps."

The FAA added that possible failures "could adversely affect the structural integrity of the airplane and result in loss of control of the airplane."

Boeing 737 NG planes are the third-generation line of the Boeing 737, the immediate predecessor to the Boeing 737 Max. The Boeing fourth-generation jets have been grounded after crashes in Indonesia in October 2018 and in Ethiopia in March 2019, with the total death toll amounting to 346.