NTSB urges immediate Boeing 757 cabin door safety action
April 4, 2025
The National Transportation Safety Board is issuing three safety recommendations to Boeing and a further three to the FAA, concerned that the failure of an emergency evacuation slide in an isolated incident may be a potentially wider-reaching issue.
The issue was first identified following the ongoing investigation of the emergency gear-up landing of a FedEx 757 in 2023, in which the left hand cabin door would not open fully and the slide would not deploy. The right door also had to be pushed open using force.
Subsequent analysis of the doors found a nonconforming cable assembly and incorrectly routed deployment straps, which prevented the doors from opening. The NTSB stated “it is currently unknown why noncompliant components were present at the time of the accident”.
Although post-accident inspection of FedEx’s other 97 aircraft in its fleet found no further misrouted straps, around 24% of doors (46 in total) did not comply with subsequent mandated modifications, with diagrams issued by Boeing as part of airworthiness directives and service bulletins failing to provide “fully correct” information. Accordingly, a non-US operator also reported three of its four 757 doors to possess incorrect latches.
With the NTSB concluding that “these inconsistent, conflicting depictions would likely be confusing to maintenance personnel and could lead to the installation of and failure to detach nonconforming latches, which could result in another incident of an evacuation slide not deploying properly when needed,” it urged Boeing to “look into the high incidence of noncompliant” latches identified during FedEx’s fleet inspection.
With Boeing set to release updates in May 2025 to provide a “consistent and accurate depiction of the bannis latch assembly,” the NTSB has recommended the manufacturer issue a service bulletin instructing 757 operators to inspect and potentially replace nonconforming parts. The NTSB is also recommending the FAA require 757 operators to perform this work. Additionally, as the same latch is used on some 727 and 737 aircraft, both NTSB recommendations extend to cover these units too.
