FAA Inspecting Additional Boeing Planes With Same Door Plug

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is now recommending that airlines perform inspections on mid-exit door plugs installed on another Boeing plane model.

According to ABC News, the FAA said Sunday night that flight operators of the Boeing 737-900ER aircraft “visually inspect mid-exit door plugs to ensure the door is properly secured,” with Boeing fully supporting the move.

Aviation experts revealed that the 737-900ER features the same door plug design as the 737 Max 9. The FAA announced that the Boeing plane has over 11 million hours of operation and is flown by major airlines, such as Alaska, Delta and United.

Representatives from the three United States carriers said inspections of the 737-900ER started last week, with no operational impact expected and no issues detected thus far. In total, there are 380 impacted aircraft in service worldwide.

The additional scrutiny of Boeing’s mid-exit door plugs on certain planes comes after a failure resulted in a massive hole being ripped in the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-Max 9 earlier this month.

The FAA continues to work with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on the formal investigation, while the impacted Max 9 aircraft remained grounded.

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