The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has initiated a criminal investigation into the mid-air incident involving an Alaska Airlines flight wherein an emergency door panel blew off in January, as per a report by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday.
According to sources familiar with the matter and documents cited by the newspaper, investigators have reached out to several passengers and crew, including pilots and flight attendants, who were onboard the flight that occurred on January 5.
The Alaska Airlines Boeing aircraft experienced the blowout approximately seven minutes after departing from Portland, Oregon, prompting the pilots to perform an emergency landing. Following this incident, Boeing has faced heightened scrutiny, particularly after a panel covering an additional emergency exit on a Max 9 jet was dislodged. Fortunately, there were no significant injuries reported.
"In such circumstances, it is customary for the DOJ to conduct an investigation," stated Alaska Airlines in an official statement. "We are fully cooperating with the investigation and do not believe we are the focus of the inquiry."
Boeing declined to provide a comment, and the DOJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Wall Street Journal mentioned that this investigation would contribute to the Justice Department's examination of whether Boeing adhered to a prior settlement agreement, which resolved a federal investigation into the safety of its 737 Max aircraft after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
In 2021, Boeing reached a settlement worth $2.5 billion, including a fine of $244 million, to resolve an investigation into the crashes involving flights operated by Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines. Additionally, the company attributed blame to two employees for misleading regulators regarding flaws in the flight-control system.
Boeing admitted in a letter to Congress that it could not find records related to the work performed on the door panel of the Alaska Airlines plane.
"We have conducted an extensive search and have not located any such documentation," stated Ziad Ojakli, Boeing's executive vice president and chief government lobbyist, in a letter addressed to Senator Maria Cantwell on Friday.
Boeing suggested that the absence of records about the removal and reinstallation of the door panel on the 737 MAX final assembly line in Renton, Washington, might be due to them not being created, despite Boeing's systems mandating it.
The letter, initially reported by The Seattle Times, came after a contentious Senate committee hearing where Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) engaged in a dispute over Boeing's cooperation with investigators.
During the hearing, Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the safety board, expressed frustration over Boeing's failure to disclose the identities of employees responsible for door panels on Boeing 737s and the lack of documentation regarding a repair job involving the removal and reinstallation of the door panel.
Senator Cantwell demanded a response from Boeing within 48 hours following the Senate hearing.
Subsequently, Boeing stated that it had provided the NTSB with the names of all employees involved in working on 737 doors and had previously shared some of this information with investigators.
In its letter, Boeing clarified that it had already informed the safety board about its inability to locate the documentation. Additionally, Boeing asserted that it was not aware of any complaints or concerns regarding a lack of cooperation until the hearing took place.
In a preliminary report released last month, the NTSB revealed that four bolts essential for securing the door plug were missing after the panel's removal for repair of nearby damaged rivets in September by contractors working for Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems. However, the NTSB remains uncertain about who conducted the removal and replacement of the door panel.
Recently, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a 90-day deadline for Boeing to address quality-control issues raised by the agency and a panel comprising industry and government experts, which identified deficiencies in Boeing's safety culture despite improvements made after the crashes involving Max 8 jets in 2018 and 2019, resulting in the loss of 346 lives.
