Criticism from US accident investigators raises new questions about quality management at Boeing: The investigative agency NTSB has been trying in vain for weeks to get documents on the work on the fuselage part that was torn off during a flight at the beginning of January, said its boss Jennifer Homendy at a hearing on Wednesday . “Either they exist and we don’t have them – or they don’t exist at all,” she emphasized. In both cases questions arise. Boeing simply said that if the work “had not been documented, there would be no documents that could be shared.” A spokesman, citing the ongoing NTSB investigation, left unanswered the question of whether Boeing now has records of the work steps or not.
The near-miss had increased pressure on Boeing to provide better quality oversight in production. In the incident with a Boeing that was almost new 737-8 Max The US airline Alaska Airlines had a fuselage fragment broken off in row 26 shortly after take-off. The more than 170 people on board largely escaped horror. However, experts pointed out that by a lucky coincidence the two seats at the hole in the fuselage remained empty.
According to initial investigations, the NTSB assumes that four fastening bolts on the fuselage part were completely missing. There is evidence that the fragment continued to slide until it broke out on the 154th flight, Homendy said in the US Senate hearing. At this point, variants of the 737-9 Max with more seats an emergency exit – on the Alaska aircraft there was a cover for the opening as a fuselage element instead of a door. Initial investigations showed that work was being done on the part at the Renton plant.
But the NTSB couldn’t get to the details, Homendy complained at the hearing. “We think we know which days the work was carried out” – but only because investigators pieced together information from pictures and emails. The authority also knows that there is a team of 25 people in Renton with its own manager who is responsible for doors. But the manager was on sick leave and Boeing did not provide the names of the 25 employees so that they could be interviewed.
“It’s absurd that we don’t have this after two months,” criticized Homendy. “Following a recent request, we have now provided the full list of people in the team responsible for doors,” a spokesman said a few hours after the hearing.