(New York) After a long morning devoted to Boeing’s production process at its 737 factory, the afternoon of the first day of hearings by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) into its investigation of a mid-air incident in January turned to faulty equipment, without much revelation.
On January 5, 2024, during the climb phase of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operating Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, a door stopper—a cover blocking a redundant emergency exit—detached, leaving a gaping hole in the fuselage and causing a few minor injuries.
The incident, which involved a plane delivered in October, brought to light the aircraft manufacturer’s quality problems.
Over two days, which should total about twenty hours of hearings, the American agency wants to “obtain the necessary information to determine the facts, circumstances and probable cause” of the incident. Then “make recommendations to improve transportation safety,” it explained.
It published a preliminary report in early February that was damning for the aeronautics giant: the absence of wear or deformation in certain locations indicated that “four bolts intended to prevent the cap holder from moving upwards were missing before it moved.”
The agency collected written records and photos showing that Boeing employees removed the bolts during an inspection at its Renton assembly plant in northwest Chicago.
NTSB lead investigator John Lovell said Tuesday morning that when the offending fuselage left supplier Spirit AeroSystems’ factory, the bolts were in place.
But when it arrived at the Renton plant 2,000 miles away, five non-compliant rivets were found near the cap door.
This was removed, the rivets replaced and the cap holder replaced, but without its attachment bolts.
Without trace
There is no written record of the operations concerning the cork door itself, all that is known is that everything happened between 18 September 05:16 and 19 September 22:56, according to the description provided by Mr Lovell.
Afternoon questioning helped narrow down the window of its removal – between 7am and 11am on 18 September – and that it had been carried out by a Boeing mechanic.
“None of Spirit’s contract workers do any of the cap removal,” said Michael Riney, Spirit AeroSystems’ representative at the Renton plant.
This was confirmed by Elizabeth Lund, Boeing’s vice president of quality, who said that, contrary to the planned procedures, the removal and replacement of this equipment was not documented.
However, according to her, 62 similar cases have been correctly recorded since 2019.
The NTSB summoned 15 people.
Among them were several representatives from Boeing, as well as Spirit AeroSystems, the air transport regulator FAA and the local machinists union IAM.
In addition to questioning by an NTSB technical panel and board members, witnesses are also being questioned by representatives of the parties to the investigation: the Airline Pilots Association, the Flight Attendants Association, IAM-District 751, the FAA, Spirit AeroSystems and Alaska Airlines.
However, Boeing lost the privilege of being able to question witnesses during these hearings, even though the aircraft manufacturer is a party to the investigation.
Indeed, the NTSB did not appreciate the presentation made at the end of June in Renton in front of journalists, including AFP, by Mr.me Lund about the events and sanctioned Boeing.
The agency accused the manufacturer of seeking to influence public opinion and failing to meet its commitments as a party to the investigation.
NTSB chief Jennifer Homendy has repeatedly complained about the planemaker’s lack of cooperation, including in providing documents and surveillance camera footage that was “overwritten” by other recordings.
According to Mme Lund, images are kept for 30 days.
The Flight 1282 incident has shone a spotlight on quality problems at Boeing, affecting three of its four commercial aircraft families (737, 787 Dreamliner, 777).
It has led to audits and investigations (police, justice, Congress), increased surveillance by regulators, renewal of the management team and reopening of the criminal case linked to the crashes of 2018 and 2019 (346 deaths).