CBS News
Boeing fails large portion of FAA audit as investigators probe New Zealand 787 incident
As an investigation gets underway to find out what went wrong on the LATAM Airlines flight from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand, that left 50 passengers injured on Monday, new details about another Boeing audit conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration reveal that the company failed large portions of that evaluation.
The audit specifically looked at the production of Boeing’s 737 Max, following Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, in January, which was forced to make an emergency landing after a door plug suddenly blew out mid-air on a 737 Max 9 jet. Boeing failed 33 of the audit’s 89 sections, CBS News confirmed, with regulators finding 97 examples of the company’s alleged non-compliance with many of its own best practices.
The Alaska Airlines incident called into question the safety of the 737 Max 9 jet and Boeing’s production standards more broadly, especially since preliminary results of an investigation by the National Transportation and Safety Board into the Alaska flight found that four key bolts meant to hold the door plug in place were missing from the aircraft. The probe so far indicates that the bolts holding that panel in place were not reinstalled during the plane’s manufacturing process.
Both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines said later that they found loose hardware on 737 Max 9 aircrafts that were grounded in the wake of the door plug fiasco, and the FAA is conducting an ongoing investigation into Flight 1282 to determine exactly what happened, and whether Boeing “failed to ensure” that its aircrafts “were in a condition for safe operation in compliance with FAA regulations.”
LATAM Airlines Flight 800 was a different Boeing aircraft model than the one used during the Alaska flight — the 787, which is considerably larger than the 737 Max 9. Compared with 174 passengers and six crew members on board the Alaska flight in January, the LATAM flight was carrying around 260 passengers and nine crew members when it abruptly dropped on its route to Auckland. The jolt sent some passengers hurtling into the aircraft’s ceiling and left some bloodied. Around 50 passengers were hurt, and 13 were taken to hospitals for treatment after the plane landed.
LATAM said in a statement that the flight experienced technical issues that “caused a strong movement” of the aircraft.
“LATAM regrets the inconvenience and injury this situation may have caused its passengers, and reiterates its commitment to safety as a priority within the framework of its operational standards,” the airline said.
New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission announced on Tuesday that it would seize the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder from the aircraft in hopes of learning more about what happened, but early reports suggest that the 787 plane’s flight control system may have temporarily malfunctioned.
“The best way to describe it is, it dropped out of the air instantly,” said Brian Jokat, a passenger on the LATAM flight. “Then it started to tail down, like, nose down.”
Given the spate of recent aircraft incidents in the United States and worldwide, the union representing American Airlines pilots is now calling on the FAA to increase oversight of airlines and maintenance facilities. The U.S. Department of Justice has also launched a criminal investigation into Boeing, stemming from the Alaska Airlines flight, CBS News has learned.
Boeing declined to comment on the Justice Department probe, but indicated that it is cooperating with all ongoing investigations and making immediate changes to improve its quality control and safety.
The audit was first reported by the New York Times.
FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker said at a news briefing that the agency has “dramatically increased” oversight regarding “the actual production” of the Boeing 737 Max 9 jets and, for that reason, certifies the planes as safe now.
CBS News
Rep. Mike Turner says all “candidates need to deescalate” after Trump assassination attempts
Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, responded Sunday to Eric Trump’s implication that his father’s Democratic opponents were responsible for the attempts on former President Trump’s life, saying the innuendo was “of course” inaccurate but political candidates on both sides of the aisle “need to deescalate” their rhetoric.
“No, of course not,” Turner said in his latest appearance on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” after being asked whether he believes there was truth to claims made by the former president, his son Eric, and his vice presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance, at a rally where each either implied or suggested Democrats tried to kill him.
Trump returned Saturday to Butler, Pennsylvania, to speak to supporters gathered at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds, the site of the July 13 assassination attempt against him. A gunman facing Trump on the podium at that rally opened fire into the crowd, grazing Trump’s ear, killing one attendee and injuring two others, according to authorities. The gunman was killed by a Secret Service sniper, officials said.
Another apparent assassination attempt happened in September when a suspect pointed a gun in Trump’s direction on the Florida course where he was playing golf. The FBI has opened probes into both incidents.
CBS News
Trump, his son and Vance all acknowledged the assassination attempt in Butler at Saturday’s campaign event.
“Over the past eight years, those who want to stop us from achieving this future have slandered me impeached me indicted me tried to throw me off the ballot and, who knows, maybe even tried to kill me,” said the former president, while Eric Trump claimed his father’s political opponents “tried to kill him, and it’s because the Democratic party, they can’t do anything right.”
Vance, in his remarks, addressed Trump’s Democratic challenger in the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, and suggested that the Republican nominee “took a bullet for democracy.”
Brennan asked Turner: “You don’t mean to imply here anything that would suggest Eric Trump’s allegations that Democrats are trying to kill him?”
“No, of course not,” Turner responded. “But I do think that Vice President Harris needs to actively state and acknowledge that her administration is saying a foreign power, which would be an act of war, is actively trying to kill her opponent.”
The attempts on Trump’s life came after a citizen of Pakistan with ties to Iran was arrested and charged with allegedly planning a murder-for-hire scheme targeting Trump, among others. Although the timing of the charges coincided with the first attempt, there was no indication that the two incidents were related.
Turner criticized Harris for what he viewed as a failure to openly condemn the alleged plot.
“I think there’s certainly a role for her to play and for the president to play in this, in both identifying that there are threats against Donald Trump that need to be acknowledged and responded to, to deter,” he said. “I think all the candidates need to de-escalate, certainly in their language.”
But the congressman did acknowledge that a Biden-Harris Justice Department official, Matthew Olsen, the head of the national security division, said the U.S. government has been “intensely tracking Iranian lethal plotting efforts targeting former and current U.S. government officials — and that includes the former president.”
“I would say that we are very concerned — gravely concerned — about Iranian plotting,” Olsen told CBS News in a recent interview.
Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified into a Category 1 storm on Sunday, and it has set its path on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Forecasters predict Milton will make landfall around the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday, bringing with it upwards of 120 mph winds and drenching an area still reeling from Hurricane Helene.
As of 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Milton was centered about 290 miles west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 815 miles west-southwest of Tampa. It had maximum sustained winds of nearly 80 mph and was inching north-northeast at 6 mph.
Path of Hurricane Milton
A map from the National Hurricane Center shows Milton continuing to strengthen into a major hurricane as it approaches Florida’s western coast.
“Milton is forecast to rapidly intensify during the next couple of days and become a major hurricane on Monday,” forecasters said.
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
The storm is expected to remain north of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, with heavy rainfall expected as Milton makes its way northeast toward Florida. Tropical storm watches are currently in effect from Celestun to Cancún, Mexico.
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
The hurricane center said hurricane and storm surge watches could be issued for parts of Florida later Sunday.
Florida officials prepare for more impact
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen just where Milton will strike, it’s clear that Florida is going to be hit hard. “I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point,” he said.
“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” the governor said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”
NOAA via AP
DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration Sunday to 51 counties and said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruptions, making sure they have a week’s worth of food and water and are ready to hit the road.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, meanwhile, coordinated with the governor and briefed President Biden Sunday on how it has staged lifesaving resources.
“I highly encourage you to evacuate” if you’re in an evacuation zone, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “We are preparing … for the largest evacuation that we have seen, most likely since 2017, Hurricane Irma. “
As many as 4,000 National Guard troops are helping state crews to remove debris, DeSantis said.
“All available state assets … are being marshaled to help remove debris,” DeSantis said. “We’re going 24-7 … it’s all hands on deck.”
An American climber was rescued after she and another alpinist from the U.K. were stranded for two days at more than 20,000 feet in the Himalayan mountains.
Michelle Dvorak, 31, and Fay Manners, 37, went missing on Thursday after their equipment and food tumbled down a ravine while trekking up India’s Chaukhamba mountain, CBS News partner BBC reported.
The pair sent an emergency message but search and rescue teams were unable to find them.
INDIAN AIR FORCE/Handout via REUTERS
Manners told the BBC they were “terrified” as they tried to make part of the descent down the treacherous mountains without supplies.
“I watched the bag tumble down the mountain and I immediately knew the consequence of what was to come,” she said. “We had none of our safety equipment left. No tent. No stove to melt snow for water. No warm clothes for the evening.”
The terrifying ordeal intensified when it started to snow. They took cover on a ledge while waiting for rescuers.
“I felt hypothermic, constantly shaking and with the lack of food my body was running out of energy to keep warm,” Manners said.
The rescue was made difficult because of the conditions, including bad weather, fog and high altitude.
“The helicopter flew passed again, couldn’t see us. We were destroyed,” Manners told the BBC.
INDIAN AIR FORCE/Handout via REUTERS
On the second day, the pair began to cautiously abseil down the mountain. They spotted a team of French climbers coming toward them. Manners said they shared their equipment and food and contacted the helicopter company with an exact location.
“I cried with relief knowing we might survive,” she said.
The Indian Air Force said in a post on the X social media platform that their helicopter airlifted the climbers from 17,400 feet after “battling two days of bad weather.”
Chaukhamba is a mountain massif in the Garhwal Himalaya in northern India.
