KUALA LUMPUR: The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) will look into whether there have been any reports of jammed rudder systems involving Malaysian-operated Boeing 737 aircraft.
This follows the US National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) call for safety checks on certain Boeing 737 aircraft after an incident on Feb 6 involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by United Airlines.
In that incident, the aircraft's rudder pedals were "stuck" in the neutral position while on the tarmac after landing at Newark airport in New Jersey.
CAAM chief executive officer Datuk Captain Norazman Mahmud told the New Straits Times that it would ask its safety unit to identify if any event related to the jammed rudder system has been reported to the authority.
"We have asked our State Safety Programme Unit to review the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting system - a system to facilitate the collection and information on actual or potential safety deficiencies - and identify if there is any event related to the issue."
Norazman said based on the information from the NTSB, not all rudder actuators are affected and as such, they will wait for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to positively identify which actuators are affected.
This, he said, is usually done by the part number.
"The FAA will, in the immediate timeframe, issue a Continued Airworthiness Notification to International Community (CANIC) that will be followed by an airworthiness directive.
"CANIC may be issued immediately with safety instructions or inform that an airworthiness directive will be issued and request respective civil aviation authorities to wait for further instructions," Norazman added.
An aircraft rudder is like the steering fin at the back of a plane that helps control its direction, especially when turning.
It is controlled by the pilot's foot pedals and helps guide the plane left or right, especially during take-off, landing, or in windy conditions.
Yesterday, the NTSB said the cause of the Feb incident was found to be the rollout guidance actuator, one of the rudder control components, with tests revealing it was susceptible to moisture which could "freeze and limit" the rudder system movement.
The faulty actuator was manufactured by US company Collins Aerospace and the part is installed in the tail of some Boeing 737 NG and 737 MAX aircraft.
According to Airfleets.net, Malaysia operates 75 Boeing 737 NG and 737 MAX aircraft commercially, under Malaysia Airlines and Batik Air Malaysia.