Whitaker will appear before an investigative subcommittee of the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on September 25 to discuss the FAA’s oversight of Boeing after a new Max 9 went through Boeing’s Renton, Washington, assembly plant and was delivered without four bolts that secured the door plug.

• READ MORE: NTSB Grills Boeing Over Max 9 Door Plug Loss

On January 5, the door plug detached while the plane was climbing out of Portland, Oregon, on an Alaska Airlines flight to California.

Boeing has already testified in June before lawmakers in trying to explain how that error happened despite its safeguards. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who chairs the committee, suggested Whitaker is in for a rough ride next week.

“Instead of encouraging workers to report quality and safety concerns, Boeing’s culture pushed workers to conceal problems that required federal inspectors’ attention,” Blumenthal said. “The FAA has to explain what they knew and when they knew it. Boeing’s broken safety culture is in desperate need of repair, and the FAA has an essential role to play.”

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

The post Whitaker to Explain FAA Role in 737 Max Door Plug Mishap appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

According to Boeing, Ortberg will begin in the position on August 8. He replaces Dave Calhoun, who earlier this year announced he was retiring. Calhoun had served as president and CEO since January 2020 and been on the Boeing board of directors since 2009.

Ortberg, 64, comes to the position with more than 35 years of experience in the aerospace industry. He recently served as president and CEO of Rockwell Collins, a position he held since 2013.

Ortberg was instrumental in the company’s integration with United Technologies and RTX. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa, has held numerous leadership positions in the aerospace industry, and is the former chair of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) board of governors.

• READ MORE: FAA Head Vows Increase in Boeing Oversight

“The board conducted a thorough and extensive search process over the last several months to select the next CEO of Boeing, and Kelly has the right skills and experience to lead Boeing in its next chapter,” said Steven Mollenkopf, chair of the board. “Kelly is an experienced leader who is deeply respected in the aerospace industry, with a well-earned reputation for building strong teams and running complex engineering and manufacturing companies. We look forward to working with him as he leads Boeing through this consequential period in its long history.”

The board also thanked Calhoun for his services, noting the past few years have been challenging for Boeing, beginning with the two 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019, respectively, resulting in the deaths of 346 people. The FAA ordered the grounding of the aircraft while the accidents were investigated. Boeing’s manufacturing and certification processes were called into question.

• READ MORE: Boeing Presents Quality Control Improvement Plan to FAA

The aerospace company announced it had worked through the issues and made changes to its manufacturing procedures to mitigate them. Then in January a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines lost a door plug shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, resulting in rapid decompression and minor injuries.

Next week the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is scheduled to conduct an investigative hearing on the door plug loss.

In the meantime, the families of those killed in the crashes are campaigning for Boeing to face criminal prosecution and the U.S. Department of Justice to fine the company $24 billion, alleging criminal negligence and violating the 2021 agreement that allowed the company to previously avoid criminal charges.

The post Boeing Names New CEO to Lead Through ‘Consequential Period’ appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The crashes—Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019—killed 346 people.

In January 2021, Boeing entered into a $2.5 billion settlement to avoid prosecution on a charge of fraud for misleading federal regulators who approved the aircraft for operations. On Tuesday, DOJ officials told a federal judge that Boeing had failed to make safety changes called for in the agreement.

The crashes were blamed in part on the aircraft’s maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS), a new automated flight control system. The pilots had not been informed that the system had been installed on the aircraft nor were they trained on its use. Shortly after takeoff, the MCAS activated and pushed the nose of the jet down in an unrecoverable dive.

• READ MORE: NTSB, Ethiopian Investigators Clash Over 737 Max Accident Report

After the second crash, the FAA ordered an immediate grounding of the 737 Max. 

During the investigation, Boeing downplayed the role of the MCAS, then later blamed two employees for misleading the FAA on the MCAS prior to certification.

During negotiations, the government agreed not to prosecute the aerospace manufacturer on a charge of defrauding the United States by deceiving authorities about the flight system. The agreement shielding Boeing from prosecution was contingent on the company developing and implementing policies and programs to improve its safety culture, quality assurance, and compliance programs.  

According to the Seattle Times, the settlement also included a $243.6 million fine, $500 million fund for victim compensation, and nearly $1.8 billion to airlines whose Max jets were grounded for nearly two years.

• READ MORE: Alaska Airlines Grounds 737 Max Fleet Following Explosive Decompression

Boeing was given three years to develop and apply the programs and had to prove it had made the changes. The deadline was the second week of January—days after a midair blowout of a door plug on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 Max. No one was seriously hurt in that event, although several lawsuits have been filed on behalf of the passengers.

“We can confirm that we received a communication…from the Justice Department, stating that the department has made a determination that we have not met our obligations under our 2021 deferred prosecution agreement, and requesting the company’s response,” a spokesperson for Boeing told FLYING. “We believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the department on this issue. As we do so, we will engage with the department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident.”

Meanwhile, family members of the 346 crash victims are hoping Tuesday’s development will open the door for prosecution against Boeing.

Boeing has until June 13 to respond to the government’s allegation, at which time the Justice Department will decide if prosecution should be pursued.

The post DOJ Accuses Boeing of Violating 737 Max Crash Agreement appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The aircraft, operating as Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, was forced to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport (KPDX) in Oregon on January 5 after the left midexit door plug dislodged, leading to rapid decompression.

• READ MORE: Alaska Airlines Grounds 737 Max Fleet Following Explosive Decompression

According to the NTSB, the hearings are designed to assist the agency to obtain information necessary “to determine the facts, circumstances, and probable cause of the transportation accident or incident under investigation.” The information is then analyzed, and the agency uses it to make recommendations to improve transportation safety.

The investigative hearing is open to the public, however, only NTSB board members, investigators, scheduled witnesses, and parties to the hearing are allowed to participate. The NTSB has an accident investigation webpage that includes links to video of media briefings, photos, the preliminary accident report, and other related materials.

The hearing will be livestreamed, and details about the time and location will be announced in coming weeks, the agency said.

• READ MORE: FAA Boeing Audit Illuminates 737 Production Issues

Due for Maintenance

On the heels of the NTSB announcement of the hearing, documents obtained by The New York Times indicate that on January 4—a day before the door plug blew out of the Alaska Airlines flight—airline engineers and technicians wanted the aircraft to come out of service on January 5 for maintenance.

As noted in the NTSB preliminary report, a warning light that activates when there is a problem with the airplane’s pressurization system had come on twice in the previous 10 days. The flight crews reported the pressurization issue light to maintenance.

• READ MORE: Boeing Subcontractor Scrutinized Over Door Plug Failure

Donald Wright, Alaska Airlines’ vice president for maintenance and engineering, told the Times that the airline considers taking more aggressive action if the warnings are triggered three times in 10 days.

The aircraft remained in service, as the pressurization system is a triple redundancy. However the airline did restrict the aircraft from flying long-haul overwater trips until the pressurization system could be thoroughly inspected. The maintenance was allegedly supposed to have happened the evening of January 5, the same night of the door plug blowout.

When asked if the airline should have grounded the aircraft sooner, an FAA spokesperson said, “Airlines must follow their FAA-approved maintenance programs to ensure their aircraft meet the agency’s airworthiness requirements.” 

• READ MORE: NTSB Chief Testifies That Boeing Is Stonewalling on 737 Door Plug Blowout 

According to the NTSB preliminary report, the four bolts meant to secure the door plug  were missing before the panel came off the airplane. The report outlined a series of events that occurred at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, that may have led to the airplane being delivered to the airline in October 2023 without those bolts being in place.

The door plug allows the aircraft to be configured with an extra emergency exit. From inside the fuselage, the door plug looks like a bulkhead and window. The outline of the door is only visible from the outside.

Last week NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters the aircraft flew 154 flights without the bolts in place, and there was evidence of small upward movements of the door plug that possibly created a gap between the door and fuselage.

According to Alaska Airlines, however, its visual inspection of the door plug in the days prior to the event did not reveal movement.

“We’re immensely grateful for the safe return of Flight 1282 on January 5 and commend the crew and all our employees for their actions every day to ensure the highest level of safety,” Alaska Airlines told FLYING. “We remain confident in our maintenance and safety actions leading up to the incident. We look forward to continuing our participation in a robust investigation led by the NTSB to ensure something like this never happens again.”

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According to a statement from the FAA, the agency has “approved a thorough inspection and maintenance process that must be performed” on all 171 grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft. The statement notes that “upon successful completion, the aircraft will be eligible to return to service.”

Within hours of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 losing a door plug shortly after an early evening takeoff from Portland International Airport (KPDX) in Oregon, the airline grounded its 737 Max 9 fleet as a precaution. The model makes up approximately 20 percent of Alaska’s fleet.

FAA Administer Mike Whitaker noted that the agency grounded the 737 Max 9 on a national scale within hours of the event and “made clear this aircraft would not go back into service until it was safe.”

Whitaker continued: “The exhaustive, enhanced review our team completed after several weeks of information gathering gives me and the FAA confidence to proceed to the inspection and maintenance phase. However, let me be clear: This won’t be back to business as usual for Boeing. We will not agree to any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 Max until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved.”

In addition, the FAA has “ramped up oversight of Boeing and its suppliers”.

New Instructions from the FAA

Per the statement from the FAA, the agency reviewed data compiled from 40 inspections of grounded aircraft and used it to create a detailed set of inspection and maintenance instructions. It also convened a Corrective Action Review Board (CARB) “made up of safety experts [that] scrutinized and approved the inspection and maintenance process.”

The agency stressed that “following the completion of the enhanced maintenance and inspection process on each aircraft, the door plugs on the 737 Max 9 will be in compliance with the original design which is safe to operate….This aircraft will not operate until the process is complete and compliance with the original design is confirmed.”

Per the FAA, the enhanced maintenance process requires:

• Inspection of specific bolts, guide tracks and fittings
• Detailed visual inspections of left and right mid-cabin exit door plugs and dozens of associated components
• Retorquing fasteners
• Correcting any damage or abnormal conditions

FAA Holding Boeing Accountable

The FAA is also increasing oversight of Boeing’s production lines.

“The quality assurance issues we have seen are unacceptable,” Whitaker said. “That is why we will have more boots on the ground closely scrutinizing and monitoring production and manufacturing activities.” 

Increased oversight activities include: 

• Capping expanded production of new Boeing 737 Max aircraft to ensure accountability and full compliance with required quality control procedures
• Launching an investigation scrutinizing Boeing’s compliance with manufacturing requirements. The FAA will use the full extent of its enforcement authority to ensure the company is held accountable for any non-compliance.
• Aggressively expanding oversight of new aircraft with increased floor presence at all Boeing facilities
• Closely monitoring data to identify risk
• Launching an analysis of potential safety-focused reforms around quality control and delegation

The agency will continue to work closely with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as it continues the investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. One of the key questions to be answered is if the bolts that are designed to hold the door plug in place were installed correctly, if at all, at the time of the accident.

• READ MORE: NTSB Identifies Part That Failed on 737 Max 9

FAA Waiting for Boeing Safety Review

In early 2023, the agency convened 24 experts to review Boeing’s safety management processes with an eye toward how they affect the aircraft manufacturing giant’s safety culture.

Per the FAA statement, “the review panel included representatives from NASA, the FAA, labor unions, independent engineering experts, air carriers, manufacturers with delegated authority, legal experts and others.”

The panel reviewed thousands of documents and interviewed more than 250 Boeing employees, managers, and executives, Boeing supplier employees, and FAA employees, and visited several Boeing sites as well as Spirit AeroSystems’ facility in Wichita, Kansas.

The report is expected to be released in a few weeks. The FAA will be using the information to determine if additional action is required.

In response to the FAA, Boeing released a statement: “We will continue to cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and follow their direction as we take action to strengthen safety and quality at Boeing. We will also work closely with our airline customers as they complete the required inspection procedures to safely return their 737-9 airplanes to service.”

• READ MORE: Boeing to Shut Down Facility for a Day

In addition, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) announced she will conduct congressional hearings to investigate the alleged “safety lapses” that may have led to the loss of the door plug from the ill-fated flight.

“[The public and workers deserve] a culture of leadership at Boeing that puts safety ahead of profits,” Cantwell said.

Airlines Reply

According to aviation data provider Cirium.com, there are approximately 215 Max 9 aircraft in use around the world. Of those, 79 belong to United Airlines and 65 to Alaska Airlines. Both airlines experienced flight cancellations and delays following the FAA’s grounding of the jets.

During the grounding the airlines complied with an FAA mandate to inspect their fleets of Max 9s, and the data collected from these inspections has been evaluated by the agency and used to develop its orders for final inspection of the aircraft, which is required to return them to airworthy status.

• READ MORE: United Airlines Says It’s Disappointed in Boeing

In a statement, Alaska Airlines noted “each of our aircraft will only return to service once the rigorous inspections are completed and each aircraft is deemed airworthy, according to the FAA requirements. We have 65 737-9 Max in our fleet. The inspections are expected to take up to 12 hours for each plane.”

Alaska Airlines predicts the first of the Max 9s will resume flying on Friday, “with more planes added every day as inspections are completed and each aircraft is deemed airworthy.”

Toby Enqvist, United’s executive vice president and chief operations officer, said the airline began inspection of its Max 9 fleet on January 12. In a message to United employees, Enqvist outlined the process, which includes removing the inner panel, two rows of seats, and the sidewall liner, enabling workers to access the doors and “inspect and verify the proper installation of the door and frame hardware, as well as the area around the door and seal.”

The post FAA Cracks Down on Boeing appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In an internal communication sent to employees of Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes division, division CEO Stan Deal said this was the first of many quality stand-down days for the factories involved in the 737 program.

“Production, delivery, and support efforts will pause for a day, so teammates can take part in working sessions focused on quality,” Deal said. “The sessions allow all teammates who touch the airplane to ‘pause, evaluate what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and make recommendations for improvement.’

“During the stand-downs, teammates will participate in hands-on learning, reflection, and collaboration to identify where quality and compliance can be improved and create actionable plans that will be tracked to closure.”

Quality Stand-Downs will be held over the next several weeks at other Boeing factories and fabrication sites to include all airplane programs.

According to the Seattle Times, a whistleblower at the Renton plant allegedly has paperwork that claims the door plug was removed for repair from the fuselage of the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 that lost the plug in flight, then reinstalled without the required four bolts that hold the door in place. If the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation confirms this, the blame for the event would fall on Boeing, rather than Spirit AeroSystems, the makers of the 737 fuselages.

• READ MORE: Alaska Airlines Grounds 737 Max Fleet Following Explosive Decompression

The aircraft was delivered to Alaska Airlines in October 2023. It did not have enough time in the air for it to be subject to a so-called “heavy maintenance” cycle.

The door plug was found in the backyard of a Portland, Oregon, area schoolteacher. It has been sent to the NTSB laboratory in Washington, D.C., for analysis. Investigators are trying to determine if the four bolts that are supposed to hold the door plug in place were installed correctly.

In the meantime, the entire fleet of Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft remains grounded and subject to extra inspections. The Max 9 is primarily used by United Airlines and Alaska Airlines. Both carriers are having to cancel flights and adjust schedules to make up for the loss of aircraft while they continue to closely inspect their fleets.

According to Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci, a close inspection of the 737 Max 9—which makes up 20 percent of the company’s fleet—uncovered loose bolts in many of the airplanes.

“I am more than frustrated and disappointed,” Minicucci told NBC News. “I am angry. This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and happened to our people. And my demand on Boeing is, what are they going to do to improve their quality programs in-house?”

• READ MORE: NTSB Identifies Part That Failed on 737 Max 9

Boeing and Alaska are facing lawsuits from passengers who were on board Flight 1282 on January 5. As the aircraft with the gaping hole in its side descended into Portland, several thought they were going to die and sent farewell messages to their loved ones via text.

Among the concerns were that the airliner had three maintenance write-ups regarding the pressurization system, but the aircraft was permitted to remain in service as long as it did not fly over water.

What Is a Door Plug?

The door plug covers a space that can be turned into an emergency exit if the operator of the aircraft desires. The outline of the door plug can be seen from the exterior of the airplane. Inside, if the emergency exit option is not selected, the space looks like a bulkhead in the fuselage with windows.

The fuselages for the 737 are made by Spirit AeroSystems, which is also investigating its quality-control measures. In December, two former employees at the Wichita, Kansas, facility filed a class-action suit alleging that a lack of quality control was endangering the company.

FLYING will continue to follow this story and post updates as they are available.

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On January 22, the FAA issued a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) recommending that operators of the Boeing 737-900ER conduct a visual inspection of the mid-exit door plugs to ensure they are properly secured.

According to the FAA, “the Boeing 737-900ER is not part of the newer Max [9] fleet but has the same door plug design.” 

Per the SAFO, “operators are encouraged to conduct a visual inspection to ensure the door plug is restrained from any movements through the two upper guide track bolts and two lower arrestor bolts.”

The SAFO noted the Boeing 737-900ER has an identical door plug design to the 737 Max 9.

“As part of their Safety Management Systems, some operators have conducted additional inspections on the 737-900ER mid-exit door plugs and have noted findings with bolts during the maintenance inspections,” the SAFO said.

The FAA has asked operators who find any issues with the door plug to notify their certificate management office.

FLYING reached out to Boeing for comment. The aerospace giant replied, “We fully support the FAA and our customers in this action.” 

About the 737-900ER

The 737-900ER is a derivative of the 737 design, with ER standing for “Extended Range.” The ER deliveries took place from 2007 to 2019. Of the 500 delivered, approximately 380 have the door plug.

The 900ER is used by Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. As all the aircraft are more than four years old, they have been through several “deep maintenance cycles,” where the door plugs are inspected.

According to the National Aviation Academy, these cycles are made up of regular inspections, maintenance, and overhaul of the aircraft using A, B, C, and D checks, with C and D checks being the most involved and time consuming. The intervals for the inspections and maintenance is driven by aircraft use and can be as little as a few weeks apart to several months.

The C check, for example, requires an aviation maintenance technician to perform a deep inspection of a majority of the aircraft’s parts. This keeps the aircraft on the ground for several weeks at a maintenance facility.

The D check is classified as a “heavy maintenance visit” and happens every six to 10 years, depending on the aircraft. This is the most comprehensive of the inspections and repairs, and often involves taking apart the aircraft to inspect for corrosion, damages, and worn-out parts. The D check takes four to six weeks.

Recap: Details of the Accident

On January 5, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was en route from Portland International Airport (KPDX) in Oregon to Ontario, California, with 177 on board. Approximately 13 minutes into the flight, the door plug departed the aircraft, resulting in a gaping hole in the fuselage as the jet passed through 16,000 feet. The in-flight failure of the door plug resulted in a violent loss of cabin pressure, and loose objects such as cellphones were sucked out the hole.

The seats directly adjacent to the door plug were empty at the time of the incident, although a teenage boy sitting close to the hole had his shirt pulled off by the force of the decompression.

The flight crew declared an emergency and initiated a descent. Within hours Alaska Airlines grounded all of its 737 Max 9 aircraft. The next day the FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive grounding all the remaining 737 Max 9s. The aircraft are primarily used by Alaska and United. The FAA has also issued a Continued Airworthiness Notification to the International Community (CANIC) providing notice of pending significant safety action.

The door plug is located in row 26 of the 737 Max 9. From the inside of the cabin, the door plug looks like any other bulkhead—on the outside, the outline of the door can be seen. The structure is designed as an extra emergency door that can be fully installed if the customer requests.

The door plug was recovered from a backyard in Oregon. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating the cause of its failure.

There were no deaths from the event, but several passengers reported injuries. Within hours of the flight, they received emails from Alaska Airlines offering $1,500 for their inconvenience. 

During the preliminary investigation, the NTSB stated the aircraft had been delivered to the airline in October 2023. A few weeks prior to the event, the flight crew had written up three warning lights indicating an issue with the aircraft’s automatic pressurization system. As the pressurization is a triple redundant system, with two computers as well as one manual means of activation, the aircraft was allowed to remain in service. However, it was limited to flight over land.

In the weeks that followed the January 5 event, several of the passengers joined in lawsuits against Boeing and Alaska Airlines, asking in part why the aircraft remained in use. But the NTSB has not attributed the event to the pressurization system.

This is an ongoing story that FLYING will update as we learn more information.

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There were 177 on board when the aircraft lost a door plug while climbing through 16,000 feet and experienced explosive decompression, resulting in a door-sized hole on the left side of the fuselage. The accident happened 13 minutes after takeoff from Portland International Airport (KPDX) in Oregon. The aircraft was bound for Ontario, California.

The four passengers are represented by Mark Lindquist, a Seattle-area personal injury attorney who also represented the families of dozens of victims after the 2018 and 2019 fatal crashes involving the Boeing 737 Max 8.

The airliner that became Flight 1282 was delivered to Alaska Airlines in October 2023. Prior to the Flight 1282 blowout, three different flight crews noticed issues with the aircraft pressurization system and wrote it up after receiving warning lights. The system has a triple redundancy. The first and second systems are activated by computer. The third system requires manual activation. The FAA allows the aircraft to fly with warnings from the system because of the triple redundancy.

• READ MORE: Passengers Sue Boeing

In response to the maintenance write-ups, Alaska Airlines pulled the aircraft from overwater operations but allowed it to fly over land.

According to Lindquist, Alaska Airlines is also named as a defendant.

“Alaska Airlines management decided the subject plane was not safe to fly over the ocean but was somehow safe enough to fly over land,” Lindquist said. “[This] risky decision [endangered passengers]. There’s no reasonable way for an airline executive to explain to the jury how they thought the plane was not safe to fly over the ocean but was safe to fly over land.” 

At the time of the blowout, the airplane was still climbing, and all the passengers were still wearing their seat belts. The flight back to KPDX was terrifying, Lindquist alleged, as the “passengers did not know if the plane could continue to fly while depressurized with a gaping hole in the fuselage.”

The seats directly next to the door plug were unoccupied, although a 15-year-old boy sitting close to it had his shirt torn from his body by the force of the decompression, and loose objects in the cabin, such as cellphones and stuffed animals, were sucked out into the night sky.

The airplane returned safely to Portland, where some passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Alaska Airlines swiftly grounded its fleet of 737 Max 9s, and within hours the FAA made the grounding a countrywide event.

• READ MORE: Alaska Airlines Grounds 737 Max Fleet Following Explosive Decompression

“It took the FAA three months and a second crash to ground the Max 8,” Lindquist said, “so it’s good to see this quick action. Lessons were learned by the FAA, if not Boeing.” 

According to information Lindquist sent to FLYING, the passengers aboard Flight 1282 described hearing “a loud bang and blare as a door plug blew out of the fuselage and the plane rapidly depressurized. This shocking blowout caused intense fear, distress, anxiety, trauma, physical pain, and other injuries to plaintiffs and fellow passengers.”

Lindquist added that Boeing “has long been on notice of quality control issues” and faced allegations the company “puts profits ahead of safety.”

The lawsuit alleges that “Boeing delivered a plane with a faulty door plug that blew out of the fuselage at 16,000 feet and air masks that apparently did not function properly. Plaintiffs feared the gaping hole in the fuselage, rapid depressurization, and general havoc was a prelude to the plane’s destruction and their own likely death.” 

According to Lindquist, “Some passengers were sending what they thought would be their final text messages in this world.”

One plaintiff wrote, “Mom our plane depressed. We’re in masks. I love you.”

The lawsuit charges three counts: one count of negligence against Boeing, one count of strict product liability against Boeing under Washington state’s Product Liability Act of 1981, and one count of negligence against Alaska Airlines.

A few days after the Max 9 incident, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun referred to the blowout as a “quality escape,” which Lindquist cited in the lawsuit. Calhoun explained “quality escape” was “anything that could potentially lead to an accident.” The lawsuit alleges the CEO thus admitted “a mistake” by Boeing.

In the Max 8 disasters, Boeing initially denied responsibility. “It’s encouraging to see the CEO step up this time and recognize the importance of accountability,” Lindquist said.

• READ MORE: FAA Scolds Boeing Over Door Plug Decompression Incident

The Investigation

The door plug was recovered in the backyard of a Portland high school teacher. The door has been shipped to the NTSB lab in Washington, D.C., for study. Investigators want to know if the four bolts designed to hold the door in place failed, or if they were mistakenly left out of the aircraft at assembly.

“Though it’s too soon to know for sure what exactly went wrong, we do know Boeing is ultimately responsible for the safety of their planes, and Alaska Airlines is ultimately responsible for the safety of their passengers,” Lindquist said.

After the aircraft returned to Portland, passengers were offered other flights to get to their destination of Ontario, California. In addition, the airline sent an email to each passenger offering them $1,500 each. According to Lindquist, many passengers were offended by both the amount and lack of a personal touch.

“While all the passengers have some things in common, their injuries are different based on where they were seated, their individual reactions, and how they are faring,” Lindquist said. “Each passenger is an individual with individual interests.”

FLYING reached out to both Alaska Airlines and Boeing for comment. Boeing replied that it had nothing to add, and Alaska Airlines stated that it does not comment on pending litigation.

On Wednesday morning, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci sent an explanatory email to its customers to update them on the situation.

Minicucci apologized to the passengers of Flight 1282 and also to customers whose travel plans have been upset by the grounding of the Max 9. The model makes up 20 percent of Alaska Airlines’ fleet.

“Since Alaska Airlines and the FAA have grounded these aircraft, that means we are canceling between 110 to 150 flights every day,” said Minicucci, adding that because of the cancellations he has asked the reservations team to notify customers as soon as possible.

“Our reservations team is working around the clock to accommodate people on other flights. To all who’ve been impacted by these interruptions, I am sorry. When you make plans, you put your trust in us, and we haven’t been able to deliver over the past week.”

About the Inspections

According to Minicucci, the inspections of the aircraft began on Saturday, January 13, and are a joint effort by the airline, FAA, and Boeing. The information gathered will be compiled by Boeing and the FAA to determine the appropriate next steps in order to return the Max 9 fleet safely back to service. 

“At this time we do not yet know how long this process will take, but we will keep you updated as much as we can,” Minicucci said. “Aviation safety is based on having multiple levels of quality control and safety assurance, much like system redundancies that are built into an aircraft for operational safety together.”

• READ MORE: Boeing Bolstering Its Quality Inspections

In addition, Alaska Airlines is having its quality and audit team begin a thorough review of production, quality, and control systems, including vendor oversight.

“They will partner with our maintenance team on the design of enhanced processes for our own quality control over aircraft and Boeing,” Minicucci said. “And starting this week, we will have our own quality oversight of Alaska aircraft on the Boeing production line, adding more experienced professionals to the teams that validate work and quality on the production line for the 737.”

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“These actions are separate from the FAA’s investigation and the agency’s plan to increase oversight of 737-9 production,” Deal said. “We will cooperate fully and transparently with both as we work to restore trust with our regulator and our customers. And as the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation proceeds, we will take additional steps to improve our practices as the facts and findings dictate.

“As we continue to respond to the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident, our team has been working with the five affected airlines to inspect their 737-9 fleet. They have been examining and collecting measurements around the mid-exit door plugs to ensure they are installed per specifications. While we complete these tasks to earn [FAA] approval to unground the affected 737 9s, our team is also taking a hard look at our quality practices in our factories and across our production system.

“We have taken important steps in recent years to strengthen our quality management system’s (QMS) foundation and its layers of protection. But the AS1282 accident and recent customer findings make clear that we are not where we need to be. To that end, we are taking immediate actions to bolster quality assurance and controls across our factories.”

The actions include adding additional inspections throughout the build process at Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems.

• READ MORE: Boeing Subcontractor Scrutinized Over Door Plug Failure

“These checks will provide one more layer of scrutiny on top of the thousands of inspections performed today across each 737 airplane and build on the reviews we have implemented to catch potential nonconformances,” said Boeing. “Since 2019, we have increased the number of commercial airplanes quality inspectors by 20 percent, and we plan to make more investments in the quality function.”

Boeing plans to increase team sessions on quality to “gather and refocus on the fundamentals of our QMS, take advantage of our expanded training programs, and recommit to improving quality and compliance.

Boeing has deployed a team to Wichita, Kansas, to work alongside Spirit AeroSystems in addition to quality assurance teams already in place. Its job is to “inspect Spirit’s installation of the mid-exit door plug and approve them before the fuselage section can be shipped to Boeing. We are also inspecting more than 50 other points in Spirit’s build process and assessing their build plans against engineering specifications.”

Boeing will also be working more closely with the five airlines that utilize the 737 Max 9, “opening their factories to 737 operators for additional oversight inspections to review our production and quality procedures. Spirit will do the same and we will learn from our customers’ insights and findings.”

In addition, an outside party will be brought in to thoroughly review the quality management system at the Commercial Airplanes Division and suggest further improvements.

These inspections of the mid-exit door plugs will continue as mandated by the FAA, and customer representatives will continue to have access to anything they want to see on board their airplane before delivery.

• READ MORE: FAA Scolds Boeing Over Door Plug Decompression Incident

“Everything we do must conform to the requirements in our QMS,” said Deal. “Anything less is unacceptable. It is through this standard that we must operate to provide our customers and their passengers complete confidence in Boeing airplanes. Let each one of us take personal accountability and recommit ourselves to this important work.”

This latest challenge for Boeing stems from the January 5 accident where Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 lost a door plug shortly after takeoff from Portland International Airport (KPDX) in Oregon.

The jet, with 177 on board, took off just before 5 p.m. PST, destined for Ontario, California.

Approximately 13 minutes into the flight as the aircraft climbed through 16,000 feet, the door plug blew off. There was explosive decompression that sucked cellphones and parts of the seats adjacent to the hole out of the aircraft. A 15-year-old boy sitting next to the hole had his shirt ripped off his body.

The flight crew declared an emergency and the aircraft returned to the airport. There were no serious injuries reported among the passengers or crew.

Within hours Alaska Airlines grounded its fleet of 737 Max 9s, and the FAA issued an emergency grounding for the remaining aircraft around the world.

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A seventh person, the husband of a passenger, is also named in the complaint filed in King County Superior Court on Thursday by the Stritmatter Firm in Seattle. The law firm specializes in personal injury cases.

What Happened

On January 5 at around 5 p.m. PST, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport (KPDX) in Oregon destined for Ontario, California. Approximately 13 minutes into the flight as the aircraft climbed through 16,000 feet, the door plug blew off. There was explosive decompression that sucked cellphones and parts of the seats adjacent to the hole out of the aircraft. A 15-year-old boy sitting next to the hole had his shirt ripped off his body by the force of the event.

The flight crew declared an emergency and the aircraft returned to the airport. There were no serious injuries reported among the 177 on board.

However, according to the complaint, “the event physically injured some passengers and emotionally traumatized most if not all aboard. The violence of the event bruised the bodies of some. The cockpit door blew open, and a flight attendant rushed to try to close it. The pressure change made ears bleed, and combined with low oxygen, loud wind noise, and traumatic stress, made heads ache severely. Passengers were shocked, terrorized, and confused, thrust into a waking nightmare, hoping they would live long enough to walk the earth again.”

The depressurization caused the oxygen masks to drop from the overhead panels. The complaint alleges that some of the oxygen masks “did not seem to work,” and “the flight attendants sought to attend to children, questions and concerns, and carried oxygen bottles to some, but did not or could not help all those whose oxygen masks seemed not to be functioning.”

Following the incident, the passengers aboard Flight 1282 received an email from Alaska Airlines providing them with a full refund.”As an immediate gesture of care, within the first 24 hours, we also provided a $1,500 cash payment to cover any incidental expenses to ensure their immediate needs were taken care of,” the airline said. “The payment was provided without any stipulations or conditions. This is in addition to offering 24/7 access to mental health resources and counseling sessions from Empathia, our incident response and family assistance partner. We are in communication with our guests of Flight 1282 and will continue to work with them to address their specific needs and concerns.”

FLYING reached out to Boeing regarding the complaint. The company replied that it has nothing to add.

Shortly after the event, Alaska Airlines voluntarily grounded its 737 Max 9s.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the FAA are investigating the incident, stressing that the safety of the traveling public is paramount.

Within hours of the incident, the F AA issued a worldwide grounding of all 737 Max 9 aircraft and instructed the operators to inspect them. The jet is widely used by both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, two of the largest air carriers. Both have reported finding loose bolts during the inspection.

Both airlines have canceled hundreds of flights as result of the removal of the 737 Max 9 from operations.

• READ MORE: Alaska Airlines Grounds 737 Max Fleet Following Explosive Decompression

The Investigation Continues

On January 11 the NTSB recovered the door plug of the airliner from a backyard in a Portland residential neighborhood. The door plug and other bits and pieces torn from the aircraft are being studied in the NTSB laboratory in Washington, D.C. Investigators are trying to determine what caused the door plug to disengage from the aircraft.

According to Clint Crookshanks, an NTSB aerospace engineer who is part of the structures team on the investigation, the door plug is held in place by 12 stop pads that interface with 12 pins to prevent it from blowing out of the fuselage. The door is installed using guide tracks and roller guides then secured with four bolts. Crookshanks noted the guide tracks from the door plug were fractured, but as of yet, the NTSB has not determined if the bolts that were supposed to secure the door failed or if they had even been installed.

The aircraft was delivered to Alaska Airlines in October 2023 and at the time of the accident had flown 145 flights. According to the NTSB, prior to the accident flight there were three maintenance write-ups made by the crews for air pressurization warning lights. The air pressurization system is a triple redundant system, with a primary and secondary that control cabin pressure by computer and a third system controlled manually. Maintenance issues were reported on December 7, January 3, and January 4.

The FAA allows aircraft to fly with these maintenance issues since it is considered a triple redundancy. However, the aircraft was limited to overland operations.

The NTSB said it will be investigating whether the warning lights were “correlated in any way to the expulsion of the door plug and the rapid decompression.” The agency said the probe into the blowout could take months.

The grounding of the twin-engine jets has resulted in hundreds of flight cancellations and delays.

In the meantime, the FAA is investigating Boeing to determine if the aerospace giant’s manufacturing processes comply with the high safety standards the company is legally accountable to meet.

In a letter sent to Boeing on January 9, the agency stated that it had received notification of “additional discrepancies on other Boeing 737-9 airplanes” and noted these circumstances “indicate that Boeing may have failed to ensure its completed products conformed to its approved design and were in a condition for safe operation in accordance with quality system inspection and test procedures.”

Boeing has 10 days to respond to the FAA.

In the meantime, Spirit AeroSystems, a Boeing subcontractor, is also facing litigation for allegedly ignoring concerns raised by former employees about product quality. The complaint, filed in December, alleges corporate officials at the Wichita, Kansas-based company were repeatedly warned about “sustained quality failures” and “excessive amounts of defects,” but those concerns were ignored.

• READ MORE: Boeing Subcontractor Scrutinized Over Door Plug Failure

Employees allegedly discussed that it was only a matter of time before one of these substandard parts made it onto a jet delivered to a customer. Among the parts made by Spirit AeroSystems is the door plug that is used to turn a space for an optional emergency exit into a window. From the interior of the cabin, it looks like the other windows. From the exterior, the outline of the door is clearly seen on the fuselage.

In a statement to FLYING, Spirit AeroSystems indicated the company is cooperating with the NTSB’s investigation.

In the meantime, the FAA said the 737 9 Max will stay grounded until all the aircraft have been inspected and found to be safe, noting “the safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 Max to service.”

Today the FAA announced it is making changes in how it worked with Boeing to include an audit involving the Boeing 737-9 MAX production line and its suppliers to evaluate Boeing’s compliance with its approved quality procedures. The results of the FAA’s audit analysis will determine whether additional audits are necessary.

There will be an increase in monitoring of Boeing 737-9 MAX in-service events, along with an assessment of safety risks around delegated authority and quality oversight, and examination of options to move these functions under independent, third-party entities.

“It is time to re-examine the delegation of authority and assess any associated safety risks,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said. “The grounding of the 737-9 and the multiple production-related issues identified in recent years require us to look at every option to reduce risk. The FAA is exploring the use of an independent third party to oversee Boeing’s inspections and its quality system.”

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