XPost: alt.aviation.safety, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: talk.politics.misc   
   From: biden.losers@boeing.com   
      
   SEATTLE (AP) — The Department of Justice has launched a criminal   
   investigation into the Boeing jetliner blowout that left a gaping hole on   
   an Alaska Airlines plane this January, the Wall Street Journal reported on   
   Saturday.   
      
   Citing documents and people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said   
   investigators have contacted some passengers and crew — including pilots   
   and flight attendants — who were on the Jan. 5th flight.   
      
   The Boeing plane used by Alaska Airlines suffered the blowout seven   
   minutes after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, forcing the pilots to make an   
   emergency landing. Boeing has been under increased scrutiny since the   
   incident, when a panel that plugged a space left for an extra emergency   
   door blew off a Max 9 jet. There were no serious injuries.   
      
   “In an event like this, it’s normal for the DOJ to be conducting an   
   investigation,” Alaska Airlines said in a prepared statement. “We are   
   fully cooperating and do not believe we are a target of the   
   investigation.”   
      
   Boeing declined to comment. DOJ did not immediately reply to a request for   
   comment.   
      
   The Journal reported that the investigation would assist the Department’s   
   review of whether Boeing complied with a previous settlement that resolved   
   a federal investigation into the safety of its 737 Max aircraft following   
   two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.   
      
   In 2021, Boeing had agreed to pay $2.5 billion, including a $244 million   
   fine, to settle an investigation into the crashes of flights operated by   
   Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines. The company also blamed two employees for   
   deceiving regulators about flaws in the flight-control system.   
      
   Boeing has acknowledged in a letter to Congress that it cannot find   
   records for work done on the door panel of the Alaska Airlines plane.   
      
   “We have looked extensively and have not found any such documentation,”   
   Ziad Ojakli, Boeing executive vice president and chief government   
   lobbyist, wrote to Sen. Maria Cantwell on Friday.   
      
   The company said its “working hypothesis” was that the records about the   
   panel’s removal and reinstallation on the 737 MAX final assembly line in   
   Renton, Washington, were never created, even though Boeing’s systems   
   required it.   
      
   The letter, reported earlier by The Seattle Times, followed a contentious   
   Senate committee hearing Wednesday in which Boeing and the National   
   Transportation Safety Board argued over whether the company had cooperated   
   with investigators.   
      
   The safety board’s chair, Jennifer Homendy, testified that for two months   
   Boeing repeatedly refused to identify employees who work on door panels on   
   Boeing 737s and failed to provide documentation about a repair job that   
   included removing and reinstalling the door panel.   
      
   “It’s absurd that two months later we don’t have that,” Homendy said.   
   “Without that information, that raises concerns about quality assurance,   
   quality management, safety management systems” at Boeing.   
      
   Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, demanded a response from Boeing   
   within 48 hours.   
      
   Shortly after the Senate hearing, Boeing said it had given the NTSB the   
   names of all employees who work on 737 doors — and had previously shared   
   some of them with investigators.   
      
   In the letter, Boeing said it had already made clear to the safety board   
   that it couldn’t find the documentation. Until the hearing, it said,   
   “Boeing was not aware of any complaints or concerns about a lack of   
   collaboration.”   
      
   In a preliminary report last month, the NTSB said four bolts that help   
   keep the door plug in place were missing after the panel was removed so   
   workers could repair nearby damaged rivets last September. The rivet   
   repairs were done by contractors working for Boeing supplier Spirit   
   AeroSystems, but the NTSB still does not know who removed and replaced the   
   door panel, Homendy said Wednesday.   
      
   The Federal Aviation Administration recently gave Boeing 90 days to say   
   how it will respond to quality-control issues raised by the agency and a   
   panel of industry and government experts. The panel found problems in   
   Boeing’s safety culture despite improvements made after two Max 8 jets   
   crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.   
      
   https://apnews.com/article/boeing-ntsb-door-plug-emergency-landing-   
   2d23408a25eff999579c88071836dbec   
      
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