NTSB · Safety Recommendation
Safety Recommendation A-25-007
Recommendation
TO BOEING: Once the Boeing 757 aircraft maintenance manual and illustrated parts catalog are updated to provide a consistent and accurate depiction of the bannis latch assembly, issue a service bulletin advising Boeing 757 operators to inspect and, if necessary, modify or replace the bannis latches on Boeing 757-200, -200CB, and -300 series airplane with the correct configuration.
Safety Issue and Context
On October 4, 2023, about 2347 eastern daylight time, the flight crew of FedEx flight 1376, a Boeing 757-236, received an engine indication and crew alerting system message indicating a failure of the left hydraulic system shortly after takeoff from Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport-Lovell Field (CHA), Chattanooga, Tennessee. The flight crew turned the airplane back to CHA but was unable to lower the landing gear. After multiple attempts to extend the gear were unsuccessful, the crew declared an emergency and performed an emergency gear up landing.
After the airplane came to a complete stop, the flight crew performed the evacuation checklist in the Quick Reference Handbook, and a jumpseat occupant onboard the airplane attempted to open the left (L1) door. The door rotated halfway open but would not open fully, and the slide did not deploy.
Response History
June 27, 2025 · Recipient Response · Boeing Company
-From Stella Weidner, Director, Product Safety, Boeing: Boeing updated both the 757 Aircraft Maintenance Manual (AMM) and Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC) for all operators with respect to the noted bannis latch assemblies on 20 May 2025. The updated manuals removed outdated illustrations from applicable maintenance tasks and IPC figures and now show the current configurations of the bannis latch.
A new Service Bulletin will be released, which is for one-time visual inspections on all 757-200/-200CB/-300 airplanes doors 1L/1R and 2L/2R to ensure presence of P/N 65C19901-18 Spacer Links and associated parts on the P/N 65C19901-41 Bannis Latch assembly. Release of this new service bulletin is planned for November 2025.
In response to this event and in coordination with the NTSB, Boeing issued Multi-Operator Message, MOM-MOM-24-0199-01B, on 8 April 2024 providing instruction to inspect the bannis latch assemblies for 757-200/-200CB/-300 airplanes doors 1L/1R and 2L/2R to ensure that each installation matched the intended configuration with spacer links installed.
Boeing will release revisions to existing Service Bulletins 757-25A0217 and 757- 25A0218, illustrations of the bannis latch assembly will be updated to show current spacer links configuration and provide specific work instructions to ensure their retention in March of 2026.
April 3, 2025 · NTSB Correspondence · Boeing Company
The NTSB is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant events in the other modes of transportation—railroad, transit, highway, marine, pipeline, and commercial space. We determine the probable causes of the accidents and events we investigate and issue safety recommendations aimed at preventing future occurrences. In addition, we conduct transportation safety research studies and offer information and other assistance to family members and survivors for each accident or event we investigate.
We also serve as the appellate authority for enforcement actions involving aviation and mariner certificates issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and US Coast Guard, and we adjudicate appeals of civil penalty actions taken by the FAA.
We are providing the following information to urge Boeing to act on the safety recommendations in this letter because we believe your organization can help reduce the risk of future accidents.
This letter also includes information about our March 27, 2025, report, Address Noncompliant Evacuation Slide Components on Boeing Airplanes. The details of this accident investigation and the resulting safety recommendations may be found in the attached report, which can also be accessed at http://www.ntsb.gov.
As a result of this investigation, we identified the following safety issues:
• Unairworthy bannis latches that don’t comply with Airworthiness Directives 86-09-09 and 2001-15-01 may be installed on other in-service Boeing 757-200, -200CB, and -300 series airplanes, which could lead to delayed evacuation during an emergency should the slide become jammed. • Because the same bannis latch design used on certain Boeing 757 airplanes (757-200, -200CB, and -300 series) is also used on Boeing 727 and 737 airplanes, these airplane models could also have bannis latches installed that are not the correct configuration.
• Ensuring operators’ maintenance documentation contains consistent, accurate depictions of the correct configuration of the bannis latch assembly would help prevent the use of noncompliant components that could lead to delayed evacuation during an emergency should the slide become jammed.
Accordingly, the NTSB makes the following safety recommendations to Boeing.