US investigators on Thursday sanctioned Boeing Co for publishing details of its investigation into the mid-air explosion of a 737 Max plane, said they would report its actions to the Justice Department and demanded an apology from the embattled plane maker.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Boeing “clearly violated” board rules by providing “non-public investigative information” and speculating about the cause of an Alaska Airlines door-plug emergency on Jan. 5 during a factory tour attended by dozens of journalists.
The decision sheds new light on tensions between crisis-hit plane makers and government agencies as they seek to avoid criminal prosecution by the Justice Department ahead of a July 7 deadline.
“Having been involved in many NTSB investigations over the past few decades, few organizations know the regulations better than Boeing,” the NTSB said.
The NTSB said Boeing will remain involved in its investigation of the Alaska Airlines emergency on Jan. 5, but that it will no longer be able to access information obtained during the investigation into the incident, in which a door plug missing four bolts blew off in the air.
Unlike the other parties, Boeing will not be allowed to question other participants at the Aug. 6-7 hearing.
“We deeply regret that some of our comments, intended to clarify our responsibility in the accident and explain the actions we are taking, went beyond the NTSB’s role as an investigative resource,” Boeing said in a statement.
The NTSB’s criticism centers around comments made at a media briefing on quality improvements held Tuesday at the 737 factory near Seattle that was widely seen as part of an effort to promote greater transparency ahead of the Farnborough Air Show.
At the briefing on Tuesday, held under an embargo with contents not being made public until Thursday, executives said the plugs were opened on the assembly line without proper documentation to repair quality problems with surrounding rivets and that the missing bolts were not replaced.
Elizabeth Lund, Boeing’s senior vice president of quality, added that the team that came on site and closed the plugs was not responsible for reinstalling the bolts.
The NTSB said Boeing violated its agreement with the agency by providing investigative information and conducting analysis of information that had already been made public.
“Boeing provided its opinion and analysis of the factors that it believes may have caused the accident,” it added.
