DOJ opens criminal investigation into the Alaska Airlines 737 plane blowout, report says

SEATTLE (AP) — The Department of Justice has launched a criminal 
investigation into the Boeing jetliner blowout that left a gaping hole on 
an Alaska Airlines plane this January, the Wall Street Journal reported on 
Saturday.

Citing documents and people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said 
investigators have contacted some passengers and crew — including pilots 
and flight attendants — who were on the Jan. 5th flight.

The Boeing plane used by Alaska Airlines suffered the blowout seven 
minutes after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, forcing the pilots to make an 
emergency landing. Boeing has been under increased scrutiny since the 
incident, when a panel that plugged a space left for an extra emergency 
door blew off a Max 9 jet. There were no serious injuries.

“In an event like this, it’s normal for the DOJ to be conducting an 
investigation,” Alaska Airlines said in a prepared statement. “We are 
fully cooperating and do not believe we are a target of the 
investigation.”

Boeing declined to comment. DOJ did not immediately reply to a request for 
comment.

The Journal reported that the investigation would assist the Department’s 
review of whether Boeing complied with a previous settlement that resolved 
a federal investigation into the safety of its 737 Max aircraft following 
two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.

In 2021, Boeing had agreed to pay $2.5 billion, including a $244 million 
fine, to settle an investigation into the crashes of flights operated by 
Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines. The company also blamed two employees for 
deceiving regulators about flaws in the flight-control system.

Boeing has acknowledged in a letter to Congress that it cannot find 
records for work done on the door panel of the Alaska Airlines plane.

“We have looked extensively and have not found any 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 the records about the 
panel’s removal and reinstallation 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 Times, followed a contentious 
Senate committee hearing Wednesday in which Boeing and the National 
Transportation Safety Board argued over whether the company had cooperated 
with investigators.

The safety board’s chair, Jennifer Homendy, testified that for two months 
Boeing repeatedly refused to identify employees who work on door panels on 
Boeing 737s and failed to provide documentation about a repair job that 
included removing and reinstalling the door panel.

“It’s absurd that two months later we don’t have that,” Homendy said. 
“Without that information, that raises concerns about quality assurance, 
quality management, safety management systems” at Boeing.

Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, 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 737 doors — and had previously shared 
some of them with investigators.

In the letter, Boeing said it had already made clear to the safety board 
that it couldn’t find the documentation. Until the hearing, it said, 
“Boeing was not aware of any complaints or concerns about a lack of 
collaboration.”

In a preliminary report last month, the NTSB said four bolts that help 
keep the door plug in place were missing after the panel was removed so 
workers could repair nearby damaged rivets last September. The rivet 
repairs were done by contractors working for Boeing supplier Spirit 
AeroSystems, but the NTSB still does not know who removed and replaced the 
door panel, Homendy said Wednesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration recently gave Boeing 90 days to say 
how it will respond to quality-control issues raised by the agency and a 
panel of industry and government experts. The panel found problems in 
Boeing’s safety culture despite improvements made after two Max 8 jets 
crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.

https://apnews.com/article/boeing-ntsb-door-plug-emergency-landing-
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