Boeing Faces Criminal Probe, Says It Can’t Find Door Plug Removal Records

Numerous sources are reporting the Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the events leading up to the rapid decompression of an Alaska Airlines MAX 9 over Oregon on Jan. 5. Alaska Airlines confirmed the probe to the New York Times. “In an event like this, it’s normal for the D.O.J. to be conducting an investigation,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement. “We are fully cooperating and do not believe we are a target of the investigation.” Boeing did not comment to the Times.

Meanwhile, Boeing says the manufacturing records it was accused of withholding from investigators in the 737 MAX 9 door plug blowout incident probably never existed. The company came under fire from NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy earlier this week for its lack of cooperation in furnishing documents that are supposed to be kept concerning the actions taken and the people who did the work. “We have looked extensively and have not found any such documentation,” Ziad Ojakli, Boeing executive vice president and the company’s chief government lobbyist, said in a letter to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wa., obtained by the Seattle Times, adding the “working hypothesis: that the documents required by our processes were not created when the door plug was opened.”

The door plug was removed at Boeing's Renton factory to allow repair of some faulty rivets. The rivet repair records, including photos, were leaked by a whistleblower early in the investigation. That whistleblower also said records show that four bolts required to secure the door plug were not installed, which is at odds with Boeing's most recent claims. The removal and replacement of the door plug is done by a separate team of workers trained in that operation and the NTSB wants to interview those involved. “We don’t have the records. We don’t have the names of the 25 people. It’s absurd that two months later, we don’t have that,” Homendy told a Senate committee hearing. After hearing that, Cantwell, the chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, gave Boeing two days to hand over the documents.

The NTSB, in its preliminary report on the mishap, determined the four bolts necessary to prevent the door plug sliding up and out of the fuselage gap were not installed when the finished plane was delivered to Alaska Airlines. On Jan. 5, after several flights in which the aircraft's pressurization system detected a leak, the plug blew out as the plane climbed through 16,000 feet on its way from Portland to Ontario, California, as Flight 1282. There were no serious injuries and the crew landed the plane safely back in Portland.