FAA Reportedly Taking a Closer - and Broader - Look
News item in Wall Street Journal (website at present) reporting that FAA is conducted an audit of the source of the electrical system problems, specifically an audit wider in scope and more in-depth than presumably would be the agency's routine. Excerpts from article:
"As part of its audit, the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating why Boeing missed that a minor production change involving drilled holes wound up the root of potential electrical problems" [referencing unnamed sources].
"The audit is expected to delve into issues beyond those addressed by a typical agency review of such problems. Regulators plan to examine how other minor production changes were handled, these people said. The agency’s senior safety managers want to understand whether oversight changes might prevent future mistakes" [also ref. unnamed sources].
The article goes on to quote an FAA directive issued this week, which reportedly said: "the electrical issue could result in the 'loss of critical functions and/or multiple simultaneous flight deck effects, which may prevent continued safe flight and landing.'" (internal quote in article).
Evidently hoping to provide context, the FAA also said - according to the article - the following: “The multilayered safety oversight system caught this issue, and the FAA, operators and Boeing took action to mitigate the issue prior to an incident or accident.”