Boeing is now party to a new federal investigation involving a 737 Max after United Airlines pilots reported that part of the flight controls became jammed as they landed in Newark last month.
In a newly-released preliminary report of the February 6 incident, the National Transportation Safety board says the pilots of the Boeing 737 Max 8 “experienced ‘stuck’ rudder pedals during the landing rollout.” The rudder controls an airplane’s yaw, or the left and right swinging of the nose.
The NTSB says none of the 161 people on United flight 1539 were injured and the plane returned to the gate, though United maintenance crews were able to “duplicate the reported rudder system malfunction” during a test flight three days later.
The investigation is the latest to involve a nearly-new Boeing 737 Max aircraft following the door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 on January 5. The NTSB says in this latest incident, the 737 Max 8 was delivered from Boeing to United Airlines in February 2023.
CNN has reached out to Boeing as well as Collins Aerospace, which makes an autopilot servo that is connected to the 737 Max 8 rudder controls. The NTSB says the servo in question was disabled by United Airlines, but cold temperature tests by Collins as part of the investigation revealed the servo’s “output crank arm would prevent the rudder pedals from moving.”
CNN has reached out to United for comment as well.
This is the first instance of this issue being reported on a 737 Max, according to a source familiar with the matter, but not the first instance on any Boeing plane.
A similar occurrence was reported twice, both in 2019, on the previous model of 737. That aircraft – the 737 Next Generation – uses a rudder pedal system. In both previous cases, the issue was fixed by replacing parts on the plane, the source said.
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