Air China responds to viral video of loose wing screw on Boeing 737-NG flight

Air China said it had fixed loose wing screws on one of its passenger aircraft after a video clip of the problematic fairing during flight was shared widely online. This comes after a passenger on Air China flight CA1921 from Beijing to Hengyang on Thursday noticed that a wing screw on the Boeing 737-NG was loose. He recorded a video and posted it on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The topic went viral soon, prompting the airline to issue a late-night statement. “Air China attached great importance to the loose screws in the inboard canoe fairing of the left flap of Air China flight CA1921 shared on the internet, and immediately inspected the relevant parts of the aircraft, repaired the loose screws, and checked the relevant fleet,” the statement read. The part where the screw was located in the inboard canoe fairing of the aircraft is mainly used to regulate the airflow, so as to reduce drag and save fuel. Such screws are used to fix the flap track fairing tail cones, which are a part of the inboard canoe fairing. There was no official explanation as to why the screw was loose or whether a loosened screw could affect flight safety. “According to personal maintenance experience, there are two reasons for this problem,” Qiu Qing, an aviation blogger with more than 300,000 followers, posted on Weibo. “One possibility is that the supporting target in the fairing was broken; another possibility is that the screws were loose due to long-term vibration at this position.”<br/>