Boeing Co. has refused to debrief investigators who worked on a door plug that later exploded during the jetliner’s flight, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairman said Wednesday.
The company also hasn’t provided documentation about the repair work, which involved removing and reinstalling panels on the Boeing 737 Max 9, and hasn’t even said whether Boeing keeps records, Jennifer Homendy said. told a Senate committee.
“It’s unreasonable to not have it after two months,” Homendy said. At Boeing, “without that information raises concerns about quality assurance, quality control, and safety management systems.”
Deputies seemed stunned. Sen. Ted Cruz said, “That’s completely unacceptable.”
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Boeing has come under increased scrutiny since the Jan. 5 accident on an Alaska Airlines Max 9 plane in which a panel blocking the space for an emergency door was blown off. The pilot was able to land safely and no one was injured.
The NTSB said in a preliminary report last month that four bolts holding the door plug in place were missing after workers removed the panel last September to repair a nearby broken rivet. . The rivet repair was done by a contractor from Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosystems, but the NTSB does not yet know who removed and replaced the door panel, Homendy said Wednesday. .
Homendy said Boeing had a 25-member team led by a manager, but the aircraft company refused multiple requests for their names for questioning by investigators. Security camera footage that could have shown who removed the panels was erased and recorded more than 30 days later, she said.
The Federal Aviation Administration recently gave Boeing 90 days to state how it will respond to quality control issues raised by the agency and a panel of industry and government experts. The committee found problems with Boeing’s safety culture, despite improvements made after two Max 8 jetliners crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
