Boeing 737 NG planes in India to be checked after cracks found in US

NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered the Indian operators of Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) planes to check the all the planes that have completed over 26,000 flight cycles for any faults. This comes as cracks were found in the wing and body fitting area in some of the planes by the US plane-maker Boeing. 

This comes after the DGCA’s American counterpart Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had on September 27 asked the operators of some Boeing 737 NG jetliners to inspect and make the necessary repairs, according to a report in Reuters.

According to Reuters, the FAA said that Boeing notified it of the issue "after it discovered the cracks while conducting modifications on a heavily used aircraft." Subsequent inspections "uncovered similar cracks in a small number of additional planes."

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The FAA said it would ask operators of the NG to "report their findings to the agency immediately" after completing inspections. Boeing said "over the coming days, we will work closely with our customers to implement a recommended inspection plan for certain airplanes in the fleet."

The 737 NG, or Next Generation, was introduced in 1997 and is the third generation version of the best-selling Boeing airplane. The 737 MAX, which was grounded in March after two fatal crashes in five months, is not affected by this issue, Boeing said.

(With agency inputs)