The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a preliminary report suggesting that a Boeing 737 9 MAX airplane, which suffered a mid-flight door panel blowout last month, may have left the factory without essential bolts.
In a harrowing incident last January, an Alaska Airlines flight en route to California from Oregon was compelled to make an emergency landing after an exit door panel blew out. This led to a temporary grounding of all Boeing 737 9 MAX planes for several weeks to facilitate quality control inspections. Alaska Airlines and United Airlines subsequently discovered loose bolts on multiple aircraft.
The door panel, which detached mid-flight, was engineered to be secured by four bolts and 12 "stop fittings." The NTSB's initial probe revealed that the bolts seemed to be absent.
The report, released on Tuesday, clarified, "Once the plug is in place, it is secured from moving vertically by a total of four bolts. The observed damage patterns and absence of contact damage or deformation around holes associated with the vertical movement arrestor bolts and upper guide track bolts in the upper guide fittings, hinge fittings, and recovered aft lower hinge guide fitting indicate that the four bolts that prevent upward movement of the [mid exit door] plug were missing before the MED plug moved upward off the stop pads."
The NTSB report also mentioned that Spirit AeroSystems, a former Boeing subsidiary, had removed the door plug in September to repair damaged rivets. The report stated, "Photo documentation obtained from Boeing shows evidence of the left-hand MED plug closed with no retention hardware (bolts) in the three visible locations. The investigation continues to determine what manufacturing documents were used to authorize the opening and closing of the left MED plug during the rivet rework."
John Cox, a U.S. aviation safety expert, posed a crucial question to Reuters, "When was the last time those bolts were installed? Did Spirit not install them and then when Boeing opened it the guys didn't realize that they didn't have the bolts? Or did Boeing not install them? That is something that I don't think we have an answer for yet."
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, expressed her concerns to CNN, stating, "Of course, something like this can happen again. This is the reason the NTSB exists to ensure this never happens again." She further added, "There is no way that this plane should have been delivered with four safety-critical bolts missing. There's a problem in the process. We're not just digging into what's going on at Boeing. We're also digging to FAA's oversight of Boeing as well. I'm very encouraged by the administrator's comments."
Following the incident, Boeing's shareholders have initiated a lawsuit against the aircraft manufacturer, alleging that its "serious safety lapses" and "poor quality control" measures resulted in the terrifying incident, causing a subsequent drop in stock prices. They accused Boeing of prioritizing profits over safety.
In response, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun stated, "Whatever final conclusions are reached, Boeing is accountable for what happened. An event like this must not happen on an airplane that leaves our factory." He concluded, "We simply must do better for our customers and their passengers."
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