All Boeing 737s Should Have Upgraded Safety Equipment, Board Says

All Boeing 737s currently flying should have upgraded safety equipment installed to guard against possible rudder failure suspected in two unsolved crashes, the government recommended Wednesday.

If the Federal Aviation Administration concurs with the recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing and the airlines would be required to make safety modifications on the 2,800 Boeing 737s in fleets around the world.

Such a development could cost the airline industry and Boeing tens of millions of dollars, but Boeing said it’s too early to tell exactly how much or the part of the total that Boeing or the airlines would have to pay.

“I think we’re going to review (the NTSB recommendations) with great interest, and we’re always willing to consider product improvement,” said Boeing spokeswoman Susan Bradley. “But at this point we’d like to see the FAA review them and then work with all parties to come to some kind of solution or resolution.”

Thomas E. McSweeny, the FAA’s director of aircraft certification, said the NTSB recommendations would be given “a lot of serious consideration.”

“Broadly speaking … they’re in the area that we’re looking at,” McSweeny said.

The NTSB action came as American Airlines announced in Fort Worth, Texas, that it is installing a new navigation system designed to prevent crashes like one in Colombia last December: a jetliner slammed into a mountainside and killed all but four of the 163 people aboard.

The NTSB’s 14 recommendations follow exhaustive investigations into unsolved crashes in Pennsylvania and Colorado. Many safety experts have theorized about rudder problems in both cases, but definite proof has not emerged.

Under the recommendations, Boeing would be required to develop and install cockpit indicators in new 737s to provide details on rudder positions and movements. For existing 737s, the same system would be required.

The FAA has 90 days to respond to the recommendations.

NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said the agency’s proposals were developed during studies of the two crashes and other incidents and should make a safe plane even safer. But they may not actually address the causes of the two accidents, which remain unknown, he said.