PHILADELPHIA — A Boeing plant in suburban Philadelphia remained shut down today while officials investigated how a foreign object ended up inside an aircraft that was under production.
Boeing spokesman Damien Mills said he could not predict how long it would take before production could resume at the Ridley Park plant, which shut down Friday afternoon. He said employees are instructed to show up for work as usual.
“There are other tasks the workers can participate in while production is halted,” Mills said. Those tasks vary, but include things like generating ideas to prevent similar problems from developing in the future, he said.
Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., said Friday he was told by a Boeing executive that a plastic cap was found in the fuel line of a V-22 Osprey fuselage and that Boeing could not immediately rule it out as a willful act. Mills said today that he had read Sestak’s comments in news reports but could not confirm them.
The same factory was shut down in May when a disgruntled employee used his work-issued wire cutters to sever about 70 electrical wires in a nearly finished military helicopter. The man pleaded guilty in September to one count of destroying property under contract to the government.
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