JAL Demands Boeing Improve Quality Control

Japan Air Lines has written the Boeing Co. about defects found in two Boeing aircraft types and demanding the giant U.S. airplane manufacturer tighten its quality control, airline officials said today.

They said the March 30 letter by JAL’s president, Susumu Yamaji, to Boeing Chairman Frank Shrontz reported the mistaken installation of engine heat detectors in Boeing 747s, found last December, and the discovery last month of wrong wiring in fire extinguishers in the cargo hold of 767s.

The letter demanded that Boeing make greater efforts to achieve better quality control, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. But they stressed the letter merely was intended to call Shrontz’s attention to the problems and was not a formal complaint.

Complaints Acknowledged

Craig Martin, director of public relations for Boeing Commercial Aircraft in Seattle, confirmed Yamaji’s letter was received and said, “I believe Mr. Shrontz has responded to it as we would to any customer, but as far as a specific response, I do not believe one has been formulated.”

“So far as we know,” the complaints were accurate, Martin said, and an investigation was under way to determine how the mistakes occurred. “I think those were one-time occurrences,” he said.

The problems cited would not normally constitute safety threats, Martin said. “I think you could construct a scenario in which they might (present safety problems); as a matter of course, no,” he said.

Japanese criticism of the Seattle-based aircraft maker has mounted since the crash of a JAL Boeing 747SR in August, 1985. All but four of the 524 people aboard the plane were killed in aviation’s worst single-plane disaster.

Crash Traced to Repair

A Japanese government report last June concluded the crash resulted from Boeing’s improper repair of the plane’s rear cabin wall after the aircraft scraped its tail during a landing in 1978.

Boeing has acknowledged the improper repair.

In July, 1986, JAL became the first airline to establish a permanent office at Boeing when it sent two inspectors to Seattle to conduct regular quality checks on Boeing’s assembly and maintenance of JAL aircraft.

The officials said JAL currently has 60 747 jumbo jets and 11 of the twin-engine, wide-body 767s.