(Seattle) Boeing acknowledged in a letter to Congress that it could not find records of work done on a door panel that exploded on an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon , two months ago.
“We have conducted extensive research and found no such documentation,” Ziad Ojakli, Boeing executive vice president and chief government lobbyist, wrote to Sen. Maria Cantwell on Friday.
The company said its “working hypothesis” was that records regarding the removal and reinstallation of the panel on the 737 MAX final assembly line in Renton, Washington, were never created, even though Boeing’s systems required it.
The letter, reported earlier by the Seattle Timesfollowed a contentious Senate committee session Wednesday, in which Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sparred over whether the company cooperated with investigators.
Safety board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy testified that for two months, Boeing repeatedly refused to identify employees who worked on Boeing 737 door panels and failed to provide documentation of a repair job including removal and reinstallation of door panel.
“It is absurd that two months later we do not have this,” said M.me Homendy. Without this information, this raises concerns regarding quality assurance, quality management and safety management systems” at Boeing.
Mme Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, demanded a response from Boeing within 48 hours.
Shortly after the Senate hearing, Boeing said it had given the NTSB the names of all employees who work on the 737 doors — and had already shared some with investigators.
In the letter, Boeing said it had already made clear to the safety board that it could not find the documentation. Until the hearing, he said, “Boeing was not aware of any complaints or concerns regarding a lack of collaboration.”
Boeing has come under increased scrutiny since the January 5 incident, in which a panel intended to block the space left for an additional emergency door came loose from an Alaska Airlines Max 9 . The pilots were able to land safely and there were no injuries.
In a preliminary report released last month, the NTSB said four bolts holding the door cap in place were missing after the panel was removed so workers could repair damaged rivets nearby in September last. The rivet repairs were carried out by contractors working for Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, but the NTSB still does not know who removed and replaced the door panel, Ms.me Homendy Wednesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration recently gave Boeing 90 days to say how it would respond to quality control issues raised by the agency as well as a panel of industry and government experts. The panel found problems in Boeing’s safety culture despite improvements made after two Max 8 planes crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.