One of the jetliners, designated VC-25s in the Air Force, had been in “heavy maintenance” for a year in at the Boeing Global Support Services facility at Port San Antonio, Texas when the mishap was reported in April 2016, the report said.
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Before the mishap, Boeing was 24,000 hours behind schedule on meeting maintenance contract time lines, and workers were working 12-hour shifts and six to seven-day work weeks at the time of the incident, the report concluded. The aircraft was due to be returned to the Air Force last July, but was returned in February, an AFMC spokesman said.
The Air Force flies two Boeing 747-200B presidential aircraft to transport the president and government leaders around the world. The duty falls to the 89th Airlift Wing at Joint Base Andrews, Md.
In a statement from a company spokesman, Boeing said it “fully understands the level of responsibility that comes from working on the president’s aircraft” and added it took “swift action” to report the incident to the Air Force.
The company said it covered the cost to repair the damage. “We fully covered all mitigation and repairs on our dime,” the statement said.
“We’ve worked alongside the 89th Airlift Wing and all involved Air Force parties to complete investigations and corrective action plans that ensure stellar performance in the future,” the statement said.
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The Air Force said the report concluded “three Boeing mechanics contaminated the aircraft’s oxygen system by using tools, parts and components that did not comply with cleanliness standards while checking oxygen lines for leaks.”
The accident board report highlighted the potential risk to the jetliner. “The risk of a fire increases if an aircraft’s oxygen system exceeds a specific level of contamination,” investigators reported. “As such, tools and components used in oxygen systems must be cleaned and tested to verify contaminants do not exceed specified levels.”
The mishap was discovered when an unapproved regulator was found connected to the passenger oxygen system, the Air Force said. The Air Force said the report also concluded a Boeing technician did not follow “explicit cautions and warnings” for work on oxygen systems, and the company “failed to exercise adequate oversight,” among factors contributing to the incident.
“While some delay was attributed to this mishap to determine the extent of contamination and make necessary repairs, remediation efforts of the oxygen system were completed by Boeing concurrently with other maintenance activity,” a company spokesman said in a statement. “The aircraft meets all F.A.A. and U.S.A.F. requirements to be certified airworthy. The aircraft has returned to the Air Force and is preparing for Presidential service.”
The AFMC report also cited an inexperienced workforce as a cause of concern at the San Antonio facility, citing more than 170 workers who “failed to meet the contractually mandated five-year experience requirement” to work on a fleet of presidential and “VIP” aircraft.
Boeing had worked on Air Force One jetliners at a facility in Wichita, Kansas for 17 years before moving it to San Antonio two months before the first VC-25 arrived, the report said. The company asked for and received an Air Force waiver on workforce experience. The waiver required “oversight of the individuals to control risk,” the report said. Boeing determined through a matrix assessment each of the workers were “low risk” to the maintenance program, the accident report said.
Wright-Patterson has an Air Force One program office that will soon be headed by a two-star general. The announcement was made after President Donald Trump threatened to cancel the Air Force One replacement over his personal concerns about the cost of the Boeing 747-8 chosen as the successor jetliner.
The famous blue and white, four-engine presidential jumbo jets are occasionally spotted at Wright-Patterson practicing landings.
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