NTSB: Boeing hasn’t produced work records on Alaska Airlines midair blowout
National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy delivered scathing testimony during a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday criticizing Boeing for lack of cooperation in the agency’s investigation of the Alaska Airlines midair door plug blowout on Jan. 5.
Afterward, Boeing scrambled to respond to her remarks revealing a deep disconnect with the safety agency.
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“Boeing has not provided us with the documents and information that we have requested numerous times over the past few months,” Homendy testified.
She said Boeing has not provided the records required to be kept of the work done to open and then reinstall the door plug.
“There are two options. Either they exist and we don’t have them or they do not exist,” Homendy said.
She added that if the latter option is true, that “raises concerns about quality assurance, quality management safety management systems within Boeing.”
A Boeing statement issued after Homendy testified seemed to imply that the documentation does not exist.
“With respect to documentation, if the door plug removal was undocumented there would be no documentation to share,” Boeing said, in indirect but pointed phrasing that reads as if written by company lawyers.
As previously reported by The Seattle Times, Boeing employees opened the door plug to allow mechanics from supplier Spirit AeroSytems to fix some poorly installed rivets in the adjacent door frame. The Boeing mechanics then incorrectly re-closed it, leaving out four key retainer bolts that would have prevented the in-flight blowout.
A source familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the investigation, said Wednesday that Boeing work was not documented.
Homendy also said the NTSB has asked Boeing for the names of the employees on a 25-person team who work on doors and door plugs at the Renton plant, but hasn’t received the names.
“It’s two months later. We know for a fact that there is a team that deals with the doors in Renton. There’s an entire team of 25 people and a manager,” Homendy said. “The manager has been out on medical leave, we’ve not been able to interview that individual. We’ve asked for the names of the other 25 people, have not received the names.”
“We don’t have the records. We don’t have the names of the 25 people,” Homendy said. “It’s absurd that two months later, we don’t have that.”
Clearly the Senate testimony hit home. After the hearing ended, Boeing in a statement noted its “deep respect for the NTSB and the critical role they play in aviation safety” and said it has now provided the 25 names.
Boeing also asserted that “Since the first moments following the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident, we have worked proactively and transparently to fully support the NTSB’s investigation.”
That statement is flagrantly contradicted by Homendy’s testimony.
Following the release of Boeing’s statement, NTSB spokesperson Eric Weiss said “Chair Homendy stands by her accurate testimony.”
