FAA just made horizontal stabilizer freeplay checks mandatory on 1,987 US-registered 737 NGs. AD 2026-20-14 covers the -600, -700, -700C, -800, -900 and -900ER that are listed in the Boeing bulletin from June 2025. MAX is not included. Effective 23 November 2026. It came from multiple operators reporting pitch oscillations caused by excessive freeplay. The work is measuring the left and right pivot hinges and the jackscrew, then doing whatever the result requires... more measurements, repair, or replacing worn parts. FAA says if you don’t address it the condition can lead to a flutter event that can result in loss of control. Cost estimate is six work-hours or $510 per aircraft, not counting parts. Canadian North asked for a longer first interval and United asked for longer repeats after new parts. Both were rejected. No grounding. Just the measurements and whatever follows. Other regulators will decide for non-US planes. Over 5,000 NGs are still active worldwide. It’s a straightforward measurement job once you have the airplane and the tools.

Most people only see the shape of the B737 winglets. Let me show you how these are actually attached. On the 737-800 the main winglet uses 18 Bolts. The ventral underneath takes 8 more. Outside it looks like a nice aero add-on that saves fuel by shrinking the tip vortex. Inside it’s just more stuff that has to stay tight.

Looks like spoiler 7 on the A350. Hydraulic fluid coming out of the servo control. Yellow system one. xitter.cf/airmainengineer/status…