In December 2021, the flight crew of a 737 Max 8 jet descending on autopilot from the skies somewhere over the United States momentarily lost control when it “rolled violently to the right” without warning, the plane’s captain recounted.

The first officer acted fast, disengaging the autopilot, and recovered control of the airplane — all within about a second. The plane landed safely with no other problems.

U.S. air safety regulators are stepping up scrutiny of United Airlines following a spate of safety issues in recent weeks, the airline told employees Friday. 

The Federal Aviation Administration will review some of United’s processes, manuals and facilities in the coming weeks, Sasha Johnson, United’s vice president of corporate safety, wrote in a memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal. 

Another week, another series of bad news stories for Boeing.

On Monday, 50 people were injured (none were killed) when a 787 “dropped abruptly” midflight from Sydney to Auckland. That same day, the New York Times reported that a Federal Aviation Administration investigation into the production of the 737 Max jets found that the company failed 33 of the 89 product audits at the factory where the planes are being built. The FAA’s inspection was connected to the alarming incident in which a door plug blew out of a Max 9 midflight in January.

Dave Calhoun, the CEO of Boeing, a man groomed in the “screw the last dime out of a company” culture under Jack Welch at General Electric before taking over at Boeing, delivered a gem of management-speak in trying to explain why the company’s 737 MAX jets are so plagued with problems: there had been a “quality escape” on the production line.

Under Calhoun, Boeing, in just four years, has lost all trace of its legendary reputation for pioneering the jet age and keeping a relentless focus on safety.

Innovation is core to America’s success as a great nation.

Innovation not only fueled our economic growth and improved our standard of living, but it helped protect us from the world’s totalitarians. For centuries, American companies have developed new technologies, which have enabled significant global progress.

However, in the process of any great discovery, mistakes are inevitable. Which is why we should measure the true strength of a company by how it responds to its mistakes.

A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board states that there were bolts missing from a door plug that blew off of the side of a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane during a Jan.5 Alaska Airlines Flight.

The plane had been flying over Oregon at the time. Only minor injuries were reported.

Following this incident, the FAA grounded all Max 9s in the United States for nearly three weeks, forcing Alaska and United Airlines to cancel more than 1,000 flights between them.

Boeing has withdrawn a request for a safety exemption for a new version of its 737 Max jet that would have expedited its approval, raising questions over when the plane will enter service. 

The US plane maker has come under mounting pressure to withdraw the request for the 737 Max 7 following the blowout of a section of the fuselage on an Alaska Airlines aircraft earlier this month.

The incident, which involved the Max 9 model, has dealt a heavy blow to Boeing’s reputation and raised numerous safety and quality control questions at the company. 

The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday said it would not allow Boeing Co. to expand production of its Max airplanes after an in-flight blowout this month grounded dozens of them for inspections, and it said it would investigate the jet maker’s compliance with manufacturing protocols.

At the same time, the agency also approved an inspection process to get those grounded jets back into the skies.

Boeing’s stock BA dropped 2.7% in premarket trading.

A Virgin Atlantic flight from Manchester to New York was cancelled after a passenger noticed several bolts were missing from the wing.

The transatlantic flight, VS127, was called off just moments before liftoff on 15 January even though the airline said there was no risk to passengers.

Phil Hardy, 41, a British passenger on the plane, alerted a flight attendant to the parts he noticed were missing, according to The New York Post.

Boeing shares fell in premarket trading in New York following the Federal Aviation Administration's announcement on Sunday recommending airlines to inspect another variant of the Boeing 737 for faulty mid-exit door plugs. This development occurred weeks after an incident where a door detached from an Alaska Airlines flight.

"As an added layer of safety, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is recommending that operators of Boeing 737-900ER aircraft visually inspect mid-exit door plugs to ensure the door is properly secured," the FAA wrote in a statement.