Boeing disclosed this week that missing paperwork could have caused the January incident on an Alaska Airlines flight when the 737 Max lost a door plug.
(via REUTERS)Initially, the lack of consolidated documentation hindered the investigation into who worked on the door plug.
What happened at the Boeing briefing for journalists?
While one was responsible for removing the door plug, the other had to reinstall it.
On January 5, the door plug ultimately blew out just minutes after the Alaska Airlines plane took off from Portland, Oregon.
Boeing disclosed this week that missing paperwork could have caused the January incident on an Alaska Airlines flight when the 737 Max lost a door plug. Elizabeth Lund, Senior Vice President, Quality at Boeing speaks to gathered media in front of a slide detailing the plug door blow-out that occurred on January 5, 2024, on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, at the Boeing 737 factory in Renton, Washington, U.S. June 25, 2024. (via REUTERS)
Initially, the lack of consolidated documentation hindered the investigation into who worked on the door plug. However, this week's briefing at Boeing's 737 Max factory in Renton, Washington, unveiled a new picture, thereby inciting a fiery row with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for revealing “non-public investigative information” to the media. The company said in a statement on Thursday that Boeing has “blatantly violated” the agency's protocols.
What happened at the Boeing briefing for journalists?
According to CNN, the company disclosed this week that the four plugs needed to hold the door plug in place were possibly not installed before the flight departed the factory in October due to lack of paperwork. This further spotlighted that the workers required to reinstall the blots never received the word order, pointing them in the right direction for the work that had to be done.
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Boeing's Tuesday briefing also revealed that the Alaska Air door plug incident happened because two different groups of employees were enlisted to finish the work at the plant. While one was responsible for removing the door plug, the other had to reinstall it.
The first step of the procedure was completed with the initial group removing the door plug and settling trouble with some rivets made by Spirit AeroSystems. However, they failed to generate the paperwork suggesting they had done their part of the job in removing the door plug and four bolts needed to hold it in place.
Boeing added that when a different group of workers put the plug back, they didn't think the plane could fly. They'd merely made a temporary fix by blocking the hole with the plug to protect the inside of the fuselage from the weather.
Senior Vice President of quality for Boeing's commercial airplane unit Elizabeth Lund said, “The doors team closes up the aircraft before it is moved outside, but it’s not their responsibility to install the pins.”
This particular group of employees assumed that paperwork had been completed, highlighting that the plug and bolts had been removed and needed to be installed again. However, the missing paperwork resulted in no one being alerted on the assembly line.
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“(Permanent) reinstallation is done by another team based on the paperwork showing what jobs are unfinished… But there was no paperwork, so nobody knew to follow up,” Lund added.
Boeing prompts NTSB rebuke
Despite providing new insight into the near-tragic incident, Boeing landed in trouble with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for violating agency rules and divulging details to the media at this early stage.
“During a media briefing Tuesday about quality improvements … a Boeing executive provided investigative information and gave an analysis of factual information previously released. Both of these actions are prohibited,” NTSB said in a statement on Thursday. The agency further threatened Boeing, stating it would refer its line of action to the Department of Justice. NTSB also foregrounded that the company would no longer share access to the agency's insight during the investigation.
The plane in question flew for about two months despite the lack of bolts surrounding the door plug. On January 5, the door plug ultimately blew out just minutes after the Alaska Airlines plane took off from Portland, Oregon. With a hole in the side of the aircraft exposing the passengers to a fatal experience, several items were ripped away into the night sky. Thankfully, no serious injuries were incurred, and the plane landed safely.
