The National Transportation Safety Board issued urgent safety recommendations on Thursday for the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing to address “the potential for a jammed or restricted rudder control system” on specific 737 Max and NG jets. 

The origin of the recommendation stems from a mid-air incident earlier this year in which the rudder pedals – the pedals on the floor of a plane that looks like the brake and gas pedals of a car or truck but control the aircraft’s directional yaw – on a United Airlines Boeing 737-8 Max were “stuck” in the neutral position during the landing rollout at Newark Liberty International Airport, Newark, New Jersey. 

Rudder controls… 

After touching down, the United pilot used a nosewheel steering tiller to ensure the aircraft was not blown off the runway by crosswind. NTSB found one of the rudder control components, a rollout guidance actuator from Collins Aerospace, defective. In another incident, the actuator was found to be defective in a cold-weather environment. Collins notified Boeing that more than 353 actuators have been shipped to the company since 2017. 

“Boeing’s 737 flight manual instructs pilots confronted with a jammed or restricted rudder to ‘overpower the jammed or restricted system (using) maximum force, including a combined effort of both pilots,'” the NTSB wrote in the report. 

“The NTSB expressed concern that this amount of force applied during landing or rollout could result in a large input to the rudder pedals and a sudden, large, and undesired rudder deflection that could unintentionally cause loss of control or departure from a runway,” the statement said.

This marks yet another setback for Boeing in what has been a challenging year for the US-based aircraft manufacturer. Incidents have ranged from a mid-air door plug blowout in January to a series of mid-air mishaps across the country. Then, two weeks ago, there was a massive strike involving 33,000 unionized employees. 

With many of Boeing’s employees walking the picket line, who will fix the rudder control components??