Following are edited excerpts from
a current report in The Guardian:
Official testified that the company will not identify who worked on the blown-out panel, and video footage of work has been erasedBoeing has refused to tell investigators who worked on the door plug that later blew off a jetliner during flight in January, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Wednesday.
The company also has not provided documentation about a repair job that included removing and reinstalling the panel on the Boeing 737 Max 9 – or even say whether Boeing kept records – Jennifer Homendy told a Senate committee.
“It’s absurd that two months later we don’t have that,” Homendy said. “Without that information, that raises concerns about quality assurance, quality management, safety management systems” at Boeing.
Lawmakers seemed stunned. “That is utterly unacceptable,” said Senator Ted Cruz.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a preliminary report last month, the NTSB said four bolts that help keep the door plug in place were missing after the panel was removed so workers could repair nearby damaged rivets last September. The rivet repairs were done by contractors working for the Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, but the NTSB still does not know who removed and replaced the door panel, Homendy said on Wednesday.
Homendy said Boeing had a 25-member team led by a manager, but the aircraft company had declined repeated requests for their names so they can be interviewed by investigators. Security-camera footage that might have shown who removed the panel was erased more than 30 days later, she said.
Comments
WASHINGTON — More than two months after a door plug panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet in midair, the top federal safety investigator says Boeing still has not provided key information that could shed light on what went wrong.
National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy told the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday that Boeing has not revealed who was responsible for failing to reattach the door plug properly at the company's factory near Seattle.
"It's absurd that two months later, we don't have that," Homendy said.
The NTSB said in its preliminary report last month that four key bolts which are supposed to hold the door plug in place were missing when the plane left Boeing's factory last year. The report found the door plug was opened to allow for repair work on misdrilled rivets on the fuselage while the plane was being assembled.
But Homendy says the NTSB is still unable to determine who opened and closed the door plug: "Boeing has not provided us with documents and information we have requested numerous times," Homendy told the committee.
"Are you telling us that even two months later you still do not know who actually opened the door plug?," asked Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the committee's ranking member.
"That's correct, Senator. We don't know," Homendy replied. "And it's not for lack of trying."
The NTSB has asked Boeing to provide documentation of when it was performed and by whom, Homendy said. But Boeing has told investigators that "they can't find it," she said.
Investigators have also been seeking the names of the 25 Boeing employees who are part of the team that opens and closes door plugs. But so far, Homendy says the plane-maker has not provided those names.
A Boeing spokesman disputed Homendy's account in an emailed statement to NPR: "Since the first moments following the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident, we have worked proactively and transparently to fully support the NTSB's investigation," said Boeing's Connor Greenwood.
"Early in the investigation, we provided the NTSB with names of Boeing employees, including door specialists, who we believed would have relevant information. We have now provided the full list of individuals on the 737 door team, in response to a recent request," Greenwood said.
"We have been informed that they have a procedure to maintain documents on when work is performed and including when door plugs are open, closed or removed," Homendy said. "We have not been able to verify that. And without that information, that raises concerns about quality assurance, quality management, safety management systems within Boeing."
Boeing also acknowledged the possibility that the documents the NTSB is seeking may not exist: "If the door plug removal was undocumented there would be no documentation to share," Greenwood said in his statement. "We will continue to cooperate fully and transparently with the NTSB's investigation."
Personal comment: Difficult to square the following-
• "We have worked proactively and transparently to fully support the NTSB's investigation," said Boeing's Connor Greenwood. "We provided the NTSB with names of Boeing .... door specialists, who we believed would have relevant information. We have now provided the full list of individuals on the 737 door team".
• ""We have been informed that they have a procedure to maintain documents on when work is performed and including when door plugs are open, closed or removed," Homendy said. "But... the NTSB is still unable to determine who opened and closed the door plug: Boeing has not provided us with documents and information we have requested numerous times"
• "If the door plug removal was undocumented there would be no documentation to share," Greenwood said.
Hello ??