Boeing Subcontractor Scrutinized Over Door Plug Failure

Employees of Spirit AeroSystems allege poor quality control in legal filing.

Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 12:18 AM ET

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The door plug on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 blew off as the aircraft climbed through 16,000 feet. [Courtesy: NTSB]

Key Takeaways:

A class action lawsuit alleges that Boeing subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems, manufacturer of the 737-9 Max door plug, ignored repeated employee warnings about "sustained quality failures" and "excessive defects" prior to the recent Alaska Airlines incident.
Following the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 door plug blowout and rapid decompression, the FAA grounded all 150 Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft, with subsequent inspections by airlines revealing loose bolts on other planes.
The NTSB's ongoing investigation is examining the recovered door plug and will determine if three prior maintenance write-ups for air pressurization warning lights on the incident aircraft are correlated to the failure.

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Litigation filed against a Boeing subcontractor is the latest wrinkle in the investigation of the Boeing 737-9 Max 9 that lost a door plug in mid-flight, resulting in cabin depressurization and an emergency landing. Spirit AeroSystems is facing a class action lawsuit filed in federal court in December by former employees who allege the Wichita, Kansas-based manufacturer didn’t listen when they raised concerns about product quality.

According to the investigative publication The Lever, the complaint was filed on December 19 in federal court in New York state on behalf of investors in Spirit AeroSystems. The complaint alleges that employees of the aerostructure manufacturer repeatedly warned corporate officials about “sustained quality failures” and “excessive amounts of defects,” but their concerns were ignored.