FAA has doubled its enforcement cases against Boeing since a door plug blew off a 737 Max (2025)

By DAVID KOENIG - AP Airlines Writer

A federal Aviation Administration official said Wednesday that the agency has 16 pending enforcement cases against Boeing, half of which have been opened since a door plug blew off a 737 Max in midflight.

The increase in cases was disclosed Wednesday during a National Transportation Safety Board hearing into the accident, which happened during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5.

Brian Knaup, who helps manage the FAA's oversight of Boeing, said one of the open cases involves the removal of parts that have already been installed on airplanes in production.

That is apparently what caused the mistake that led to the Alaska Airlines accident: Bolts that were removed to open the door plug for maintenance workers were not replaced when the panel was closed and the plane left a Boeing factory near Seattle.

Knaup's comment came near the end of a two-day hearing that included discussion of Boeing's poor tracking of parts-removal jobs. The company failed to document who opened the door plug, and the missing bolts were never found.

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Another FAA official overseeing Boeing, Bryan Kilgroe, said he is kept awake at night wondering “especially considering all that has happened since Jan. 5, is why is it so difficult to sustain a corrective action for the long term?”

Boeing said it had no comment.

The safety board released released testimony by Boeing employees who said they were pressured to build planes too quickly and not raise safety concerns.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy cited two employees who worked on aircraft doors where the Alaska Airlines plane was assembled and claimed they were moved to other areas — “Boeing prison” and “a cage” — after the door-plug blowout.

“What sort of impression does that give your employees if you sideline them ...? It is retaliation," Homendy said. She said “sidelining” the two workers runs against Boeing’s policy, which is not to retaliate against workers for unintentional mistakes.

Homendy said the NTSB will survey workers at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, where the Alaska Airlines plane was produced, about the company's safety culture.

Representatives from Boeing and key supplier Spirit AeroSystems described their “safety management systems,” which encourage employees to voluntarily report safety concerns without fear of punishment. Boeing officials touted their “Speak Up” program for reporting concerns about quality and safety.

However, the president of the machinists' union local said Boeing often ignores safety concerns raised by the union until he lodges a complaint with federal regulators.

“It really sounds great,” the official, Lloyd Catlin, said of Boeing's safety plan. "In action on the factory floor, it is not.”

The FAA has been roundly criticized for lax regulation of Boeing ever since two deadly Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people. Those charges gained new momentum after the Alaska Airlines accident.

The agency’s new chief, Mike Whitaker, told Congress in June that FAA oversight “was too hands-off” but is improving. Knaup, a California-based FAA manager, said inspections have increased since the blowout.

FAA safety inspectors “can talk to anyone that’s on the (Boeing factory) floor at any time when they are doing an audit, and we do that,” he told the NTSB.

Door plugs are installed on some 737s to seal a cutout left for an extra exit that was not required on the Alaska jet. The plug on the Alaska plane was opened at a Boeing factory to let workers fix damaged rivets, but bolts that help secure the panel were not replaced when the plug was closed.

The accident on Alaska Airlines flight 1282 occurred minutes after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 5. The blowout left a hole in the plane, oxygen masks dropped and the cockpit door flew open. Miraculously there were no major injuries, and pilots were able to return to Portland and land the plane safely.

A Boeing official said Tuesday that the company is redesigning door plugs so they cannot be closed until they are properly secured. Elizabeth Lund, who was named Boeing’s senior vice president of quality shortly after the blowout, said the company hopes to complete the fix within about a year, and that 737s already in service will be retrofitted.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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FAA has doubled its enforcement cases against Boeing since a door plug blew off a 737 Max (2025)

FAQs

Is Boeing a failing company? ›

The company hasn't turned a profit in years, and the Alaska Airlines incident won't help Boeing make money this year either. Boeing faces no existential threat, though. The company has just one major competitor in the production of commercial aircraft globally — Airbus.

What is the difference between the 737 Max 7 and 8? ›

The MAX 7 has a range of 3,850 nautical miles (7,130 kilometers), while the MAX 8 and 9 have a slightly lower range of 3,550 nautical miles (6,570 kilometers). This allows the aircraft to narrowly beat the 3,500 NM (6,482 km) mark set by the A320neo but still comes in below the A321neo's 4,000 NM (7,408 km).

What is the Boeing scandal 2024? ›

March 4, 2024

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)'s six-week audit of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, prompted by the January 5 incident involving a new, Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft, found multiple instances where the companies allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.

What is the problem with the Boeing 737 Max? ›

The flaws in the software design that took flight control away from the pilots without their knowledge based on data from a single sensor, ultimately led to the two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, causing the deaths of 346 people.

Is Boeing in trouble financially? ›

Moody's Ratings has said that even with improved financial performance, Boeing's cash flow will not be enough to cover $4.3 billion of debt coming due in 2025 and $8 billion due in 2026. Boeing likely will have to issue new debt to fund those shortfalls, according to Moody's.

Is Boeing going to survive? ›

Dogged by dire aircraft malfunctions, regulator restrictions, and tanking income, Boeing is struggling to preserve its very existence. Its main goals for survival: getting back to full production and sales capacities, while it revamps its entire manufacturing system to eradicate critical safety flaws.

Why is Boeing falling? ›

Boeing's balance sheet carries almost $60 billion in debt, which is problematic because the company isn't profitable or generating free cash flow. What's more, Boeing hasn't reported a full-year profit since 2018, the year before two crashes of the 737 MAX jet led to the grounding of the plane worldwide.

Is Boeing a loss making company? ›

Its biggest loss quarter over the past 5.5 years was Q4 of 2019, when the company had to pay a huge fine in a corruption case. This chart shows the quarterly net profit/loss of The Boeing Company and Airbus (in million U.S. dollars).

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