Federal Board Recommends New Rudder Part for Boeing B-737s : Airplanes: Irvine division of Parker-Hannifin Corp. has been redesigning actuator since safety concerns were expressed in July.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday recommended that all Boeing B-737 airplanes be fitted with a redesigned rudder part, manufactured in Irvine, because the part has been found to malfunction and could cause flight problems.

The board said the rudder part is not known to have resulted in any injuries to passengers or damage to airplanes. The malfunction was discovered during a routine preflight check by a pilot, the board said.

The part--a 20-pound, 20-inch-long actuator--is standard equipment in the 2,300 B-737 airplanes in use around the world, said Steve Smith, a Boeing spokesman. The planes are flown by all the major commercial passenger airlines.

Manufacturer Parker-Hannifin Corp., a Cleveland company with a division in Irvine, has been working on a new actuator design since the safety board first expressed concern in July, Smith said. The actuator valve was found in some cases to move the rudder in the wrong direction.

The odds of that happening in the air are one in a billion, Smith said, and would involve two events happening together: The control system valve would have to jam, then the pilot would have to kick the rudder as far to one side as possible.

“The combination of these events happening is extremely improbable,” Smith said. “The 737s are safe to fly. We have over 50 million flight-hours with no incidents of rudder reversal.”

He said airlines have been notified of the potential problem but dismissed as unnecessary a safety board recommendation for extra preflight tests.

The board recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration require the airlines to incorporate the new design when it is made available by Boeing.

Smith said any new planes will use the redesigned actuator. However, he said Boeing will be discussing with the FAA whether retrofitting older planes is necessary.

He would not estimate the cost to Boeing.