boeing 737 max 9

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Security footage of Boeing repair before door-plug blowout was overwritten

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737 Max door-plug blowout —

NTSB: Boeing “unable to find the records documenting” repair work on 737 Max 9.

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NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy sitting in front of a microphone while testifying at a Senate hearing.

Enlarge / National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy testifies about the Boeing door-plug investigation before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on March 6, 2024, in Washington, DC.

Getty Images | Kevin Dietsch

A government investigation into a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane’s door-plug blowout has been hampered by a lack of repair records and security camera footage, the National Transportation Safety Board’s chair told US senators. Boeing was “unable to find the records” and told the NTSB that the security camera footage was overwritten.

“To date, we still do not know who performed the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug on the accident aircraft,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy wrote Wednesday in a letter to leaders of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. “Boeing has informed us that they are unable to find the records documenting this work. A verbal request was made by our investigators for security camera footage to help obtain this information; however, they were informed the footage was overwritten. The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB’s investigation moving forward.”

A Boeing spokesperson told Ars today that under the company’s standard practice, “video recordings are maintained on a rolling 30-day basis” before being overwritten. The NTSB’s preliminary report on the investigation said the airplane was delivered to Alaska Airlines on October 31, 2023, after a repair in a Boeing factory. On January 5, the plane was forced to return to Portland International Airport in Oregon when a passenger door plug blew off the aircraft during flight.

The NTSB’s preliminary report found that four bolts were missing from the door plug, which can be used instead of an emergency exit door. There was “no evidence” that the door plug “was opened after leaving Boeing’s facility,” indicating that the bolts were not re-installed at the factory. The plane was serviced at Boeing’s Renton, Washington, facility to replace five damaged rivets in a job that required opening the door plug.

“We will continue supporting this investigation in the transparent and proactive fashion we have supported all regulatory inquiries into this accident,” Boeing said in a statement provided to Ars. “We have worked hard to honor the rules about the release of investigative information in an environment of intense interest from our employees, customers, and other stakeholders, and we will continue our efforts to do so.”

Chair called Boeing CEO to seek employee names

Homendy’s letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) responded to questions raised at a committee hearing last week. The questions were related to “whether Boeing has provided documentation on the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug,” and the identities of door crew employees, the letter noted.

“NTSB investigators first requested documents that would have contained this information from Boeing on January 9, 2024,” the letter said. “Shortly thereafter, we identified the door crew manager and were advised that he was out on medical leave. We requested status updates on February 15, 2024, and February 22, 2024, after which we were advised by his attorney that he would not be able to provide a statement or interview to NTSB due to medical issues.”

Boeing provided the names of some people who were familiar with the door-plug work, but the NTSB said it wanted a more exhaustive list to prepare for investigative interviews. On March 2, NTSB investigators asked Boeing for the names of all employees who reported to the door crew manager at the time of the repair in September 2023. Boeing provided the list but “did not identify which personnel conducted the door plug work,” the letter said.

“After NTSB received this list, I called Boeing Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun and asked for the names of the people who performed the work,” Homendy wrote. “He stated he was unable to provide that information and maintained that Boeing has no records of the work being performed.”

NTSB seeks info on Boeing quality-assurance and safety

Homendy told senators that the agency is not seeking the names for punitive purposes. “We want to speak with them to learn about Boeing’s quality-assurance processes and safety culture. Our only intent is to identify deficiencies and recommend safety improvements so accidents like this never happen again,” she wrote.

Homendy wrote that she is “increasingly concerned that the focus on the names of individual front-line workers will negatively impact our investigation and discourage such Boeing employees from providing NTSB with information relevant to this investigation.” To counter those fears, Homendy “instructed NTSB to utilize our authority to protect the identities of the door crew and other front-line employees who come forward with information relevant to the investigation.”

Homendy also sent a letter to Boeing on Wednesday reminding the company that until the investigation concludes, “only appropriate NTSB personnel are authorized to publicly disclose investigative information and, even then, the disclosure is limited to factual information verified during the course of the investigation.”

“For the public to perceive the investigation as credible, the investigation should speak with one voice—that being the voice of the independent agency conducting it,” Homendy told Boeing in the letter.

Security footage of Boeing repair before door-plug blowout was overwritten Read More »

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Report: Boeing may reacquire Spirit at higher price despite hating optics

Alaska Airlines, Boeing, Boeing 737 max 7, boeing 737 max 9, Federal Aviation Administration, Policy, spirit aerosystems / /

Still up in the air —

Spirit was initially spun out from Boeing Commercial Airplanes in 2005.

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Report: Boeing may reacquire Spirit at higher price despite hating optics

Amid safety scandals involving “many loose bolts” and widespread problems with Boeing’s 737 Max 9s, Boeing is apparently considering buying back Spirit AeroSystems, the key supplier behind some of Boeing’s current manufacturing problems, sources told The Wall Street Journal.

Spirit was initially spun out from Boeing Commercial Airplanes in 2005, and Boeing had planned to keep it that way. Last year, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun sought to dispel rumors that Boeing might reacquire Spirit as federal regulators launched investigations into both companies. But now Calhoun appears to be “softening that stance,” the WSJ reported.

According to the WSJ’s sources, no deal has formed yet, but Spirit has initiated talks with Boeing and “hired bankers to explore strategic options.” Sources also confirmed that Spirit is weighing whether to sell its operations in Ireland, which manufactures parts for Boeing rival Airbus.

Perhaps paving the way for these talks, Spirit replaced its CEO last fall with a former Boeing executive, Patrick Shanahan. In a press release noting that Spirit relies “on Boeing for a significant portion of our revenues,” Spirit touted Shanahan as a “seasoned executive” with 31 years at Boeing, and Shanahan promised to “stabilize” Spirit’s operations.

If Boeing reacquired Spirit, it might help reduce backlash over Boeing outsourcing manufacturing of its planes, but it likely wouldn’t help Boeing escape the ongoing scrutiny. While the WSJ reported that “Spirit parts frequently arrive” at the Boeing factory “with defects,” it was “a snafu at Boeing’s factory” that led Alaska Airlines to ground 65 Boeing aircraft over safety concerns after a mid-aircraft door detached mid-flight, endangering passengers and crew.

Sources later revealed that it was Boeing employees who failed to put bolts back in when they reinstalled a door plug, reportedly causing the malfunction that forced Alaska Airlines to make an emergency landing. As a result, Boeing withdrew from a safety exemption that it had requested “to prematurely allow the 737 Max 7 to enter commercial service.” At that time, US Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) accused Boeing of a “bold-face attempt to put profits over the safety of the flying public.”

Purchasing Spirit would appear to be a last resort for Boeing, the WSJ reported, noting that so far, “Boeing has done everything short of acquiring Spirit in an effort to gain control over the supplier.”

But Reuters confirmed the WSJ’s report with an industry source, so it seems like perhaps Boeing increasingly feels it has no other options left despite working closely with Shanahan for the past few months to keep Spirit’s troubles from impacting Boeing’s bottom line. One industry source told Reuters that in the time since Boeing spun off Spirit, “the optics of buying at a higher price were among the factors that discouraged such a move.”

For Spirit, which attributes nearly two-thirds of its revenues to Boeing, the WSJ reported, being brought back into the Boeing fold could be the only way to survive these turbulent times. Currently valued at about $3.3 billion, Spirit has struggled for months to shore up a commercial agreement with Airbus and notably failed to stabilize after receiving a “$100 million cash infusion from Boeing” last year, the WSJ reported.

But for Boeing, the obvious downside of the purchase would be taking on Spirit’s mess at the same time Boeing is trying to clean up its own image.

Report: Boeing may reacquire Spirit at higher price despite hating optics Read More »

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Four bolts were missing from Boeing 737 before door plug blew off, NTSB says

boeing 737 max 9, boeing door plug, Policy / /

Four important bolts —

Signs indicate that key bolts were missing when 737 Max 9 left Boeing factory.

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A large opening where a door plug should be is viewed from the inside of a passenger airplane.

Enlarge / Rows 25 and 26 in the Boeing plane that lost a door plug during flight.

NTSB

Four important bolts were missing from a Boeing 737 Max 9 that lost a passenger door plug during flight, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in its investigation.

The NTSB’s preliminary report issued today is consistent with earlier news reports stating that investigators believed the bolts were missing when the plane left Boeing’s factory. The plane used by Alaska Airlines was forced to make an emergency landing on January 5 when the door plug—which is used instead of an emergency exit door—blew off the aircraft in mid-flight.

An absence of markings around the holes where bolts should have been installed was a key piece of evidence cited in the NTSB report:

Overall, the observed damage patterns and absence of contact damage or deformation around holes associated with the vertical movement arrestor bolts and upper guide track bolts in the upper guide fittings, hinge fittings, and recovered aft lower hinge guide fitting indicate that the four bolts that prevent upward movement of the MED [mid exit door] plug were missing before the MED plug moved upward off the stop pads.

The NTSB explained that a door plug is supposed to be “secured from moving vertically by a total of four bolts.”

“Once these bolts are installed, they are secured using castle nuts and cotter pins. Outboard motion of the plug is prevented by 12 stop fittings (6 along each forward and aft edge) installed on the fuselage door frame structure,” the NTSB said.

Obviously, the bolts were never found. “The two vertical movement arrestor bolts, two upper guide track bolts, forward lower hinge guide fitting, and forward lift assist spring were missing and have not been recovered,” the report also said.

Door plug is supposed to be simpler

The door plug covers a hole where an emergency exit door would otherwise be. Benefits of door plugs include more space for passengers, reduced weight, and a full-sized passenger window, the NTSB report said. The door plug is also supposed to simplify the configuration because it “does not have the complexity of a door with its associated parts, operations, and maintenance concerns.”

A “door plug is only intended to be opened for maintenance and inspection, which requires removing the vertical movement arrestor bolts and upper guide track bolts,” the NTSB said today. A recent Wall Street Journal report said that “Boeing and other industry officials increasingly believe the plane maker’s employees failed to put back the bolts when they reinstalled a 737 Max 9 plug door after opening or removing it during production.”

The preliminary report described the precarious moments after the door plug blew off. The captain reported hearing “a loud bang” when the plane reached an altitude of about 16,000 feet.

“The flight crew said their ears popped, and the captain said his head was pushed into the heads-up display (HUD) and his headset was pushed up, nearly falling off his head,” the NTSB report said. “The FO [first officer] said her headset was completely removed due to the rapid outflow of air from the flight deck.”

Flight crew reported “that the flight deck door was blown open and that it was very noisy and difficult to communicate.” They “immediately contacted air traffic control (ATC), declared an emergency, and requested a lower altitude.”

The plane returned to Portland International Airport in Oregon and landed on a runway “without further incident and taxied to the gate.” While everyone was safe, seven passengers and one flight attendant suffered minor injuries.

Four bolts were missing from Boeing 737 before door plug blew off, NTSB says Read More »

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Boeing withdraws bid for safety exemption as details on missing bolts emerge

Boeing, boeing 737 max 9, boeing door plug, Policy / /

Missing bolts —

Boeing workers apparently failed to replace bolts after reinstalling door plug.

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Tarp-like material covers a large opening in the side of a Boeing airplane.

Enlarge / A hole is covered where a door plug blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane used by Alaska Airlines.

Getty Images

Boeing is withdrawing an application for a safety exemption related to its 737 Max 7 aircraft as more details emerge on the cause of a near-disaster involving a 737 Max 9 plane used by Alaska Airlines.

While initial inspections of Alaska Airlines’ fleet of Boeing 737 Max 9s turned up “many” loose bolts, a Wall Street Journal report yesterday said it now appears that “bolts needed to secure part of an Alaska Airlines jet that blew off in midair appear to have been missing when the plane left Boeing’s factory.”

“Boeing and other industry officials increasingly believe the plane maker’s employees failed to put back the bolts when they reinstalled a 737 Max 9 [door plug] after opening or removing it during production, according to people familiar with the matter,” the article said.

In the incident on January 5, a Boeing 737 Max 9 lost a passenger door plug while in flight, causing decompression of the passenger cabin and forcing an emergency landing (a door plug is used instead of an emergency exit door in some planes). The Federal Aviation Administration subsequently grounded 171 Boeing planes and informed Boeing that the agency “will not grant any production expansion of the Max, including the 737-9 Max.”

737 Max 7 application withdrawn

With the 737 Max 9 investigation continuing, Boeing confirmed this week that it withdrew an application for a safety exemption for the 737 Max 7. Boeing was facing pressure from US Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who chairs a subcommittee on aviation safety and operations. Duckworth last week urged the FAA to reject Boeing’s request for “an exemption from safety standards to prematurely allow the 737 Max 7 to enter commercial service.”

“The exemption Boeing seeks involves an anti-ice system that can overheat and cause the engine nacelle to break apart and fall off,” Duckworth wrote. “This could generate fuselage-penetrating debris, which could endanger passengers in window seats behind the wing and/or result in a loss of control of the aircraft.”

Even though a permanent fix is not expected until 2026, Boeing “is asking the FAA to allow the Max 7 to fly with merely a warning to flight crews to remember to manually turn off the anti-ice system when the aircraft emerges from icy conditions,” Duckworth wrote. “This is a request for the FAA to certify a commercial aircraft with a single point of failure subject to human error with potentially catastrophic consequences.”

In a statement provided to Ars and other media outlets, Boeing said it is withdrawing the request for an exemption. “We have informed the FAA that we are withdrawing our request for a time-limited exemption relating to the engine inlet deicing system on the 737-7,” Boeing said. “While we are confident that the proposed time-limited exemption for that system follows established FAA processes to ensure safe operation, we will instead incorporate an engineering solution that will be completed during the certification process.

“As always, the FAA will determine the timing of certification and we will follow their lead every step of the way,” Boeing added. “We’re committed to being transparent, listening to all our stakeholders and taking action to strengthen safety and quality at Boeing.”

Duckworth also met Thursday with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun. “After this bold-face attempt to put profits over the safety of the flying public with the Max 7 and this month’s horrific Alaska Airlines incident aboard the Max 9, I am as committed as ever to doing everything I can to ensure Boeing aircraft meet all safety standards—and I made that clear in today’s meeting,” Duckworth said.

Details suggest missing bolts on Max 9

The Wall Street Journal report about the Max 9 investigation said that an “apparent absence of markings” on the door plug is one factor suggesting that bolts were missing when the plane left Boeing’s factory. The WSJ said its sources “also pointed to paperwork and process lapses at Boeing’s Renton, Wash., factory.”

“The National Transportation Safety Board has been conducting metallurgical analysis of the [door plug] but hasn’t released the results of the testing. Laboratory tests might show whether the bolts were in place or not there at all,” the article said.

When contacted by Ars today, the NTSB said the agency’s preliminary report is slated to be released on Wednesday and “will include all of the factual information that we have developed at this point in the investigation.” (Update at 3: 38pm ET: The NTSB now says the report will not be issued on Wednesday, and a new date for its release has not been set.)

Boeing said it was unable to comment on the probe because “only the US National Transportation Safety Board can release information about the investigation.”

Boeing withdraws bid for safety exemption as details on missing bolts emerge Read More »