The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an airworthiness directive for all Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 8200 airplanes to address a circuit breaker issue that can trigger an air conditioning malfunction and lead to excessively high temperatures within the cabin and flight deck.
Under the directive, operators must update the airplane flight manual within 30 days to equip flight crews with specific procedures to follow if a defined circuit breaker trips and the air conditioning system malfunctions. The FAA said the rule applies to 2,119 airplanes worldwide, of which 771 are U.S.-registered.
The FAA cited two recently reported in-flight incidents in which interior temperatures rose sharply. Regulators warned that the air conditioning malfunction could produce an uncontrollable, excessively high temperature that "could lead to injury or incapacitation of flightcrew and passengers, which could result in the inability to maintain safe flight and landing."
Boeing has said it supports the FAA directive and noted that the rule codifies guidance the company issued last month. In a statement, Boeing said, "We are advancing an engineering solution to eliminate the possibility of this electrical fault." The company identified the root cause as a ground wire fault in the air conditioning system.
Regarding other related models, Boeing said it expects the corrective engineering fix to be ready for the 737 MAX 7 and 10 prior to their certification and that it does not expect this issue to affect their certification timeline.
One of the reported incidents occurred on a Southwest Airlines flight. Southwest said it is in close contact with both the FAA and Boeing and has notified its flight crews about the specific steps to follow in response to the identified electrical fault.
Summary of actions required
- Operators must revise the airplane flight manual within 30 days.
- Flight crews must be provided with operating procedures for responding to the specified circuit breaker trip and resulting air conditioning malfunction.
Context included in original reporting
- The directive covers 2,119 airplanes worldwide, including 771 U.S.-registered airplanes.
- Two in-flight incidents with sharp temperature increases were reported to the FAA.
- Boeing attributes the malfunction to a ground wire fault in the air conditioning system and is advancing an engineering solution.
Additional note that appeared in original material
The original report included material about an AI-based stock evaluation product that referenced Boeing's ticker. That material described an AI screening service which evaluates BA alongside other companies and cited past examples of its suggestions. The presence of that content has been preserved as part of the original reporting.