Alaska Airlines probe points blame at Boeing, FAA

New Straits Times

4 days ago

NEW YORK: Boeing's failure to provide adequate training to manufacturing staff was a driving factor in a near-catastrophic Alaska Airlines mid-flight blowout, US investigators said Tuesday.
In its analysis of the January 2024 incident, the National Transportation Safety Board said faulty Boeing staff guidance and procedures – along with ineffective federal oversight – were a probable cause for the mishap, in which a fuselage panel on a 737 MAX broke free from the jetliner shortly after take-off.
There were no serious injuries and pilots managed to fly the plane back to Portland, Oregon and land it safely.
But the drama plunged Boeing back into crisis mode, leading to a brief grounding of the 737 MAX models involved in the incident and prompting federal officials to cap the MAX's monthly production. This hit Boeing's profitability.
During a public meeting to present their findings, NTSB officials said they believed the problem stemmed from an action by Boeing staff to remove the left mid-exit door of the plane during maintenance. They said this step was not ordered or overseen with proper protocols.
Investigators found no work order for the activity or evidence that the door was reinstalled properly. NTSB officials said previously that four bolts securing the panel went missing.
The NTSB said the "probable cause" was due to "Boeing Commercial Airplanes' failure to provide adequate training, guidance and oversight necessary to ensure that manufacturing personnel could consistently and correctly comply with its parts removal process." This was contained in a draft finding approved by board members at the meeting.
Boeing has revamped quality systems following the Alaska Airlines incident, redoubling training efforts and reducing work performed outside of sequence that can lead to production defects.
The company last year replaced its CEO with former Rockwell Collins CEO Kelly Ortberg, who has said that improving Boeing's corporate culture will take time.
Boeing said it was reviewing the report.
The NTSB directed recommendations at the US Federal Aviation Administration.
"Contributing to the accident was the US Federal Aviation Administration's ineffective compliance enforcement surveillance and audit planning activities, which failed to adequately identify and ensure that Boeing addressed the repetitive and systemic nonconformance issues associated with its parts removal process," the investigation concluded.