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Investigators zero in on ‘likely’ cause Boeing door plug failed midflight and it’s DAMNING

January 29, 2024 | | Print Article

Details are surfacing on why an Alaska Airlines flight’s door may have blown out at altitude in mid-flight and they are making Boeing look even more incompetent than before.

“Bolts needed to secure part of an Alaska Airlines jet that blew off in midair appear to have been missing when the plane left Boeing’s factory,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

The door plug was found by a teacher in his Cedar Hills, Oregon, yard just a few days after it blew out of the fuselage. Thankfully, no one died as a result of the incident.

Boeing and other industry officials believe that employees were the ones at fault for the missing bolts. They allegedly didn’t put them back when they reinstalled a 737 MAX 9 plug door after opening or removing it during production, sources told the media outlet.

“The increasingly likely scenario, according to some of these people, is based partly on an apparent absence of markings on the Alaska door plug itself that would suggest bolts were in place when it blew off the jet around 16,000 feet over Oregon on Jan. 5,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “They also pointed to paperwork and process lapses at Boeing’s Renton, Wash., factory related to the company’s work on the plug door.”

Metallurgical analysis of the plug door has been conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board but they haven’t released the results yet. Tests could show if the bolts were never there to begin with. The results are expected to be released as soon as this week.

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“New evidence could later emerge before accident investigators reach final conclusions. It couldn’t be determined how many people were involved with work on the plug door at Boeing’s 737 factory,” the Wall Street Journal noted.

“Supplier Spirit AeroSystems delivered the 737 fuselage to Boeing’s factory with the door plug installed. The plug door itself was constructed in Spirit’s Malaysian factory, while the fuselage was assembled in Wichita, Kan,” the media outlet added.

Somewhere along the line, it’s being claimed that Boeing opened or removed the door plug following the arrival of the 737 MAX 9 jet’s fuselage in the Renton, WA factory as it was prepped for final assembly.

“U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.), chair of a key Senate panel on aviation safety, said she met with Boeing Chief Executive David Calhoun last week and discussed the probe into what went wrong,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

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“It is going to show that there has been lack of documentation when it comes with how and when those pins were installed or removed and whether or not they were reinstalled or not,” Duckworth contended. “He assured me that they were going through that entire process to make sure that they are able to track on their aircraft when these things are happening.”

Boeing had limits imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration last week on its production of 737 MAX jets. Grounded jets were green-lit to resume flying following inspections.

This jet is not the only Boeing airliner that has had problems. Other airlines have discovered missing or loose bolts on some MAX 9 jets. Boeing is now under investigation by regulators for its manufacturing practices.

Regardless of why or how the bolts were missing or came loose, the situation leaves Boeing wide open for lawsuits which, no doubt, are incoming.

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