Boeing and Airbus planes made with ‘fake’ Chinese titanium that could cause their jets to disintegrate in mid-air, FAA fears

Airplanes manufactured by Boeing and Airbus have components made from titanium that was sold with false documentation.

The Federal Aviation Administration discovered the problem after Boeing reported it to the agency when it was brought to the attention of parts supplier Spirit AeroSystems.

Spirit is the same company that made the doors on the 737 Max, which suffered a Jan. 5 door rupture that kicked off Boeing’s recent spate of problems.

The false documentation confirming the authenticity of the titanium could mean that it is not up to standard or testing to withstand the rigors of air transport.

The FAA said it is “investigating the scope and impact of the problem” and how it could affect the safety of an unknown number of aircraft using the parts.

“Boeing made a voluntary disclosure to the FAA regarding the purchase of material through a distributor who may have falsified or provided incorrect records,” he said.

“Boeing has issued a bulletin outlining ways suppliers should be aware of the potential for falsified records.”

The problem was discovered after a parts supplier found small corrosion holes in the titanium.

Spirit, which makes fuselages for Boeing and wings for Airbus, tested the metal to see if it met the standard and was structurally strong enough.

“These are documents that have been forged, forged and forged,” it said.

“Once we realized counterfeit titanium had entered the supply chain, we immediately seized all suspect parts to determine the extent of the problems.”

Spirit also sought to trace the source of the material to learn more about it and how it slipped into the supply chain undetected.

The documentation is known as a certificate of conformity and details where the titanium comes from, how it was made and what its quality is.

The suspected parts were used in aircraft manufactured between 2019 and 2023, including the Boeing 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A220.

Spirit said it was used in the 787’s passenger entry doors, cargo doors and a component that connects the engines to the airframe, and a heat shield in the 737 Max and A220 that protects the connector.

Boeing and Airbus declined to say how many planes had flown with parts made from undocumented titanium.

They insisted that the planes containing the parts were safe to fly, but Boeing said it was removing the affected parts from planes that had not yet been delivered to airlines.

“This industry-wide issue affects some shipments of titanium received by a limited set of suppliers, and testing to date has shown that the correct titanium alloy was used,” Boeing said.

“To ensure compliance, we remove all affected parts from aircraft prior to delivery. Our analysis shows that the operating fleet can continue to fly safely.”

Airbus similarly said: “Many tests were carried out on components from the same source of supply.

“The safety and quality of our aircraft are our highest priorities and we work closely with our supplier.”

Boeing said tests showed the parts were made from the correct titanium alloy, raising questions about why the documentation was falsified.

Spirit said it was not yet possible to determine whether the metal had been sufficiently treated to meet aviation standards, adding that it passed some tests but failed others.

Boeing said it bought most of the titanium it used directly from other sources and that the documentation issue did not affect deliveries.

Sources told the New York Times that the problem dates back to 2019, when material supplier Turkish Aerospace Industries bought a batch of titanium from a Chinese supplier and sold it to several other suppliers.

One of them was the Italian firm Titanium International Group, which noticed in December 2023 that it looked different from the titanium it usually received.

The certificates that came with him also appeared to be fake.

TIG had previously sold some of the suspected titanium to Spirit and reported it after the find – stressing that it had no idea at the time that the papers had been forged.

Spirit began an investigation and told Boeing and Airbus in January that it could not verify where the titanium came from.

Sources told the NYT that the scam originated from a Chinese supplier who presented it as the well-known and trusted Chinese supplier Baoji Titanium Industry.

“Baoji Titanium is not aware of the company and has no business relationship with the company,” the firm told the newspaper, confirming that it had not sold the batch of metal in question.

As a result, it was unclear where the titanium came from, and the affected parts would likely be monitored and replaced during routine maintenance.

The FAA told Boeing to present its turnaround plan after an Alaska Airlines plane’s door burst mid-flight on Jan. 5 at 16,000 feet.

No one was injured in the mid-air incident. Crash investigators found that bolts that helped secure the panel to the frame of the Boeing 737 Max 9 were missing before the piece blew up.

The accident further damaged Boeing’s reputation and led to numerous civil and criminal investigations.

The regulator launched a new investigation earlier this month after Boeing’s underwhelming intake staff may have missed some inspections of its 787 Dreamliner planes.

The FAA added that it was investigating “whether Boeing completed inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records.”

Boeing halted deliveries of the 787 widebody for more than a year until August 2022 as the FAA investigated quality issues and manufacturing defects.

In 2021, Boeing reported that the planes had pads that were not the correct size, and some planes had areas that did not meet skin flatness specifications. A shim is a thin piece of material used to fill small gaps in a manufactured product.

The 737 Max, a narrow-body jet, has also had its fair share of close calls in the air.

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 was forced to make an emergency landing at Denver International Airport after part of an engine ruptured in early April.

Boeing could also face criminal charges over the two fatal 737 Max crashes after Boeing was accused of breaching an agreement that allowed them to avoid earlier charges.