US officials: Boeing did not provide key records for Alaska Airlines incident investigation

The chairwoman of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Ms. Jennifer Homendy, said that the aircraft manufacturer Boeing could not provide key information related to what was done on the Alaska Airlines plane before the door failure in January.

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX made an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, USA, after a door burst on January 23, 2024. Photo: VNA

The lack of these records will complicate the NTSB's investigation, Homendy said.

In a letter to the leaders of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Ms. Homendy said that due to a broken latch, the door body on the Alaska Airlines Boeing plane was removed for repair in September 2023. The repair was carried out at Boeing's Renton facility in Washington (USA), before being returned to Alaska Airlines. However, Ms. Homendy noted that to date, the investigation team still does not know who performed the opening, reinstalling and closing of the door body on the plane that had the problem. She said Boeing informed the NTSB that they could not find records of the work.

Ms. Homendy's letter stated that although investigators requested security camera footage , Boeing informed them that the footage had been overwritten. Meanwhile, Boeing affirmed that the corporation was "transparent and proactive" in assisting authorities in investigating the incident; emphasizing that the security camera footage was kept for 30 days as required by regulations.

According to Homendy’s letter, the NTSB first requested relevant documents on January 9. Boeing then submitted the names of people who could provide details on February 2. Boeing also failed to provide the full names of employees who could identify the person who handled the latch. On March 6, the NTSB criticized Boeing for not providing information quickly enough for the investigation.

On January 5, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines was forced to make an emergency landing after the plane's emergency exit door dislodged. Although no one was seriously injured, investigators said the incident could have had catastrophic consequences. Investigators said the incident was caused by four missing bolts in key locations. The incident on the Alaska Airlines flight has become the biggest crisis for Boeing in recent times.

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