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Military production resumes at Boeing plant

A production ban on military aircraft was lifted yesterday at the Boeing Rotorcraft facility in Ridley Park less than a week after the discovery of a plastic cap in the fuel line of a V-22 Osprey.

A production ban on military aircraft was lifted yesterday at the Boeing Rotorcraft facility in Ridley Park less than a week after the discovery of a plastic cap in the fuel line of a V-22 Osprey.

"We may never know exactly how it got there," company spokesman John Williamson said, adding that vandalism had not been ruled out.

Boeing was informed late yesterday morning by the Defense Contract Management Agency "that we have fulfilled the necessary requirements to return to production status," Williamson said.

The manufacturing lines for the Osprey and the CH-47 Chinook, halted Friday, resumed almost immediately, since employees had been reporting to work despite the ban, Williamson said.

An investigation by the Defense Contract Management Agency, an arm of the Defense Department that has day-to-day oversight of defense contractors, did not determine how the cap wound up where it should not have been.

"It's really impossible to tell just because of where the piece was and where the fuselage was in the manufacturing process," Williamson said.

No employees have been disciplined because of the incident.

The Defense Contract Management Agency has recommended a number of changes at the Delaware County plant, and Boeing has already begun to implement them, Williamson said. They include work-area cleanliness, tool and material control, and security of job sites to make sure "the right people are on the aircraft at the right time."

"We've all come out of this with a heightened sense of focus on what needs to be done and a reinforced commitment to our war fighters," Williamson said.

In May, vandals damaged two Chinooks at the plant. A unionized assembly-line worker has been arrested, and the investigation into whether others were involved in hacking wires and other meddling on the aircraft continues.