Boeing failed to provide adequate training, guidance and oversight to prevent a midair cabin panel blowout of a new 737 MAX 9 flight in January 2024, which spun the planemaker into a major crisis, the United States National Transportation Safety Board has said.
The board on Tuesday harshly criticised Boeing’s safety culture and its failure to install four key bolts in a new Alaska Airlines MAX 9 during production, as well as the ineffective oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said at a board meeting that the incident was entirely avoidable because the planemaker should have addressed the unauthorised production that was identified in numerous Boeing internal audits, reports and other forums for at least 10 years.
“The safety deficiencies that led to this accident should have been evident to Boeing and to the FAA,” Homendy said. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that no one died or sustained serious physical injuries.”
Boeing’s on-the-job training was lacking, the NTSB said, adding that the planemaker is working on a design enhancement that will ensure the door plug cannot be closed until it is firmly secured.
The accident prompted the US Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation and declare that Boeing was not in compliance with a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. CEO Dave Calhoun announced he would step down within a few months of the midair panel blowout.
Homendy praised new Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, but said, “He has his work cut out for him, a lot of challenges to address, and that’s going to take time.”
Boeing said it regretted the accident and was continuing to work on strengthening safety and quality across its operations.
The FAA said on Tuesday that it has “fundamentally changed how it oversees Boeing since the Alaska Airlines door-plug accident and we will continue this aggressive oversight to ensure Boeing fixes its systemic production-quality issues”.
Damaged reputation
The incident badly damaged Boeing’s reputation and led to a grounding of the MAX 9 for two weeks as well as a production cap of 38 planes per month by the FAA, which still remains in place.
“While Boeing is making progress, we will not lift the 737 monthly production cap until we are confident the company can maintain safety and quality while making more aircraft,” the FAA added.
Boeing created no paperwork for the removal of the 737 MAX 9 door plug – a piece of metal shaped like a door covering an unused emergency exit – or its re-installation during production, and still does not know which employees were involved, the NTSB said on Tuesday.
Then-FAA administrator Michael Whitaker said in June 2024 that the agency was “too hands off” in Boeing oversight and has boosted the number of inspectors at Boeing and the MAX fuselage manufacturer’s, Spirit AeroSystems, factories.
Boeing agreed last July to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. But it last month struck a deal with the US Justice Department to avoid a guilty plea.
The Justice Department has asked a judge to approve the deal, which will allow Boeing to avoid pleading guilty or facing oversight by an outside monitor.
Earlier this month, Boeing’s problems resurfaced when an Air India flight crashed soon after takeoff from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, killing all but one on board. The aircraft being flown was a nearly 12-year-old Dreamliner. Investigations behind that crash are currently under way.
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