FAA mandates inspections of Boeing 737 switches that could pose safety risk

FAA mandates inspections of Boeing 737 switches that could pose safety risk.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is instructing airlines to inspect their Boeing 737 fleet for faulty altitude pressure switches that could potentially pose a safety risk. The switches are part of a system designed to warn flight crew of cabin depressurization. Planes are equipped with two cabin altitude pressure switches so there is a backup if one fails. But the crew and maintenance personnel are not alerted of switch failures. If both switches fail and the plane is over 10,000 feet in the air, the FAA says there is a danger of the cabin altitude warning system not activating. In that case "oxygen levels could become dangerously low." "A latent failure of both pressure switches could result in the loss of cabin altitude warning, which could delay flight crew recognition of a lack of cabin pressurization, and result in incapacitation of the flight crew due to hypoxia (a lack of oxygen in the body), and consequent loss of control of the airplane," the agency said.