The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Thursday sanctioned Boeing for disclosing nonpublic details in its investigation into a 737 MAX 9 door plug that blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
According to the NTSB, an independent agency that investigates transportation accidents, unnamed Boeing executives at a press conference on Tuesday discussed specific “investigative information” and presented analysis of previously released information, both of which were in “clear violation” of an agreement between the parties that Boeing signed when it began its investigation.
“Having been involved in many NTSB investigations over the past few decades, few organizations know the regulations better than Boeing,” the NTSB said.
The sanctions will place certain limitations on Boeing’s ability to participate in any future NTSB investigations: While the NTSB has stated that Boeing will maintain its status as a party, it will no longer have access to information the NTSB generates as it prepares its “record of accident facts.”
The NTSB also said it would issue subpoenas to Boeing for investigative hearings scheduled for Aug. 6 and 7.
“Unlike other parties to the hearing, Boeing will not be permitted to question other participants,” the NTSB said.
Boeing did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
The department also said it would report the case to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is considering whether to indict Boeing for violating a deferred prosecution agreement related to two crashes of its 737 MAX 8 planes in 2018 and 2019 that killed about 350 people.
Families who lost loved ones in the crash last week called on the Justice Department to pursue “aggressive criminal prosecutions” and impose $24 billion in fines on Boeing for “the worst corporate crime in American history.”
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun apologized to the families of the crash victims during a Senate subcommittee hearing last week, his first congressional testimony since the door plug incident in January.
Calhoun also said Boeing had “operated responsibly and transparently” with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigations into the accident.
“We took immediate steps in our factories and supply chain to ensure that the specific conditions that led to this accident never happen again,” Calhoun said in his opening statement.
