BROKEN WINGS

Boeing Grounds 777X Tests Fleet After Cracks Found in Aircraft Structure

The aircraft manufacturer’s horrible year just got worse, with more problems for its much delayed new plane.

Those closely following Boeing’s track record so far this year might well find themselves wondering: Is there anything the aircraft manufacturer can do? The latest in a mounting series of controversies for the Fortune 500 company has seen a test fleet of four 777X jetliners grounded after cracks were discovered in the planes’ structure, The Wall Street Journal reports. Unveiled in 2013, the “new model” is already five years behind schedule, with uncertainty over whether this most recent setback will further delay some 540 orders already pending for 2025. By way of quick recap, it also comes after the notorious mid-flight door blowout on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 flight in January, swiftly chased by high-profile firings in February. The following month, there were further reports on everything from landing gear collapses and mid-air engine fires to leaking hydraulic fluids and wandering wheels. That’s all before not one but two whistleblowers died within just weeks of one another between March and April, followed by one death and almost 90 hospitalizations due to turbulence-related injuries before the end of May.