NTSB Grills Boeing Over Max 9 Door Plug Loss

Aircraft giant addresses its manufacturing process during the first day of hearing in Washington, D.C.

Meg Godlewski

Wednesday, August 07, 2024 at 11:13 AM ET

Verified

Edited By: tccjeremy

Boeing is testifying at a two-day NTSB hearing in Washington, D.C. [Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

Testimony at an NTSB hearing revealed a chaotic production environment at Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, where pressure to meet goals led to frequent mistakes and often substandard work.
The door plug on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was removed at Boeing's factory to fix faulty rivets but was reinstalled without its four critical bolts, and no paperwork documented this crucial step.
This systemic breakdown in quality control, documentation, and communication, alongside poor morale and high turnover, allowed the improperly secured aircraft to be delivered to the airline.

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On Tuesday in Washington, D.C., the National Transportation Safety Board heard testimony from Boeing officials and contractors from Spirit AeroSystems that painted a picture of a chaotic workplace where the drive to meet production goals was making employees work so fast that mistakes were frequent and assembly did not pass quality inspection.

Wednesday is Day 2 of the NTSB hearing about the loss of a door plug from a Boeing 737 Max 9 in January after takeoff in Portland, Oregon.