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Just over two weeks after the one-year anniversary of a door plug blowing off of a Boeing 737 Max 9 while in flight, the Federal Aviation Administration has more than doubled the number of aviation safety inspectors (ASIs) assigned to oversight activities at the country’s largest plane maker, an agency spokesperson confirmed to The Air Current.
According to the FAA, there are now around 53 ASIs assigned across Boeing’s facilities in Renton and Everett, Washington and Charleston, South Carolina, as well as Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosystems’ Wichita, Kansas facility. That’s just two shy of a 55-person goal that former Administrator Mike Whitaker laid out last year and more than double the 24 that were in place prior to the Alaska 1282 incident.
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The agency also said that an additional 12 inspectors are assisting those assigned to Boeing and are specifically focused on engine oversight, bringing total inspection personnel to 65. As of June 2024, the FAA had around 30 ASIs assigned to Boeing.
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