Boeing 737 Max probe still trying to find who caused door failure

By Alan Levin

US accident investigators said they remain in the dark about who performed the work on the panel of a Boeing Co. jet that failed in January, despite high-level pleas to the company and interviews at the factory where the fateful removal of the part was performed.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said she made a direct request to Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun last week, according to a letter to Senators on Wednesday. Her team has also been conducting interviews with workers at the company’s Renton, Washington, factory.

Investigators first requested the identity of the crew who worked on a panel that failed on the flight four days after the Jan. 5 accident, Homendy said in the letter. Boeing has said it’s unable to find the records, and factory security footage that may have helped had been overwritten by then.  

“The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB’s investigation moving forward,” Homendy said.

Homendy’s comments highlight the escalating tensions between the government agency and the nation’s largest planemaker. The NTSB says it’s not getting what it needs to drill down into the causes of the accident, while Boeing maintains it’s being fully cooperative. When Homendy testified to the Senate panel last week, she said it was “absurd” that investigators hadn’t received all documents and information sought from the manufacturer.

Boeing said in a statement that it will support the investigation in a “transparent and proactive fashion.” Homendy and the company have said that the video footage is routinely erased after 30 days. 

After Homendy’s testimony on March 6, the company said it had provided the NTSB with names of all employees who may have worked on the panel. She spoke with Calhoun directly by phone, who was unable to specify the people directly involved “and maintained that Boeing has no records of the work performed.”

Homendy wrote that the safety board on Wednesday sent Boeing a warning not to release any investigative information, a further indication of tensions between the two sides related to the probe. Boeing last week told Senators in a letter it couldn’t locate records of the work related to the accident.

“We have worked hard to honor the rules about the release of investigative information in an environment of intense interest from our employees, customers, and other stakeholders, and we will continue our efforts to do so,” the company said.

The door plug on the Alaska Air 737 Max 9 blew off shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, prompting an explosive decompression. Four bolts that ensure it can’t come loose apparently weren’t installed on the plane during work performed in September before the plane was delivered in late October, the NTSB has said.

“To date, we still do not know who performed the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug on the accident aircraft,” Homendy wrote in the letter Wednesday. The letter was sent to Senator Maria Cantwell, the Washington Democrat who chairs the Commerce Committee, and Senator Ted Cruz from Texas, the panel’s highest ranking Republican. 

After conducting interviews last week at the Renton, Washington, plant where the plane was built, the NTSB still hasn’t identified the people involved, Homendy said.

Boeing had provided some names on Feb. 2. On March 2, the NTSB asked for a list of everyone who worked on doors, Homendy said. The company gave that to NTSB four days later, but hasn’t been able to specify who did the critical work, she said.

Because of the focus on these workers, Homendy said she had instructed the agency to prevent release of the workers’ names. There is also a possible federal criminal investigation that Homendy said last week she fears could also make people hesitant to talk. 

“The NTSB is not in any way seeking the names of employees who performed the work on the door plug for punitive purposes,” she said in the letter. “Our only intent is to identify deficiencies and recommend safety improvements so accidents like this never happen again.”

One manager on the crew that worked on doors is out on medical leave. The unidentified man’s attorney has told NTSB he wouldn’t be able to speak to investigators due to the medical issues, Homendy said. She urged anyone with information on the work performed on the jet to contact investigators.