Safety board grills Boeing about quality control amid 737 Max blowout hearing

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is grilling Boeing executives and others over the door plug blowout from the Alaska Air flight that took off from Portland in January.

The hearing is expected to last through Wednesday in Washington D.C.

The NTSB asked direct, challenging and pointed questions of Boeing representatives after a door panel blew off of a 737 Max on Jan. 5, an incident that the Alaska Airlines co-pilot told investigators threw the flight into "chaos."

KOIN Previous Coverage: Alaska Flight 1282

The decompression was so powerful, it blew open the cockpit door and tore off the co-pilot's headset.

There were no deaths and the flight eventually returned to Portland safely. The door plug was found in a high school science teacher’s backyard in Cedar Hills, Oregon.

The NTSB has said in a preliminary report that four bolts that help secure the panel were not replaced after a repair job in a Boeing factory in Renton, Washington. But the company has said the work was not documented.

Boeing has been trying to repair its public image for months in the aftermath of the incident involving Alaska Airline Flight 1282

KOIN 6 News spoke to Boeing whistleblowers who blamed poor quality control at Boeing plants for many issues.

Quality control, both by Boeing and its subcontractor, was a focus of the NTSB's line of questioning at different points during the hearing.

Elizabeth Lund, who has served as Boeing’s senior vice president of quality — a new position — since February, said before the pandemic most new hires at Boeing factories had aerospace experience, often in the military. Now, she said, “considerably more of our employees did not have that aerospace experience.”

A representative of the machinists’ union said Boeing cut back on inspections and training over the last several years. Lund said the company has significantly increased training since the Alaska Airlines blowout, and that the company is trying to improve quality as it focuses on “lean manufacturing.”

“Can I make one suggestion?” safety board member Todd Inman interjected.

“Sure, please,” Lund replied.

“Stop talking about leaner and quality and start talking about safer manufacturing,” Inman said.

Lund also said Boeing is working on ways to prevent door plugs from being closed if they are not firmly secured, but she could not say when that redesign might be completed.

Boeing production of Max jets dropped below 10 per month after the blowout and remains under 30 per month, Lund said. The Federal Aviation Administration has set a limit of 38 per month until it is satisfied that Boeing’s manufacturing process is producing safe planes.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker has conceded that his agency’s oversight of the company “was too hands-off — too focused on paperwork audits and not focused enough on inspections.” He has said that is changing.

Ed Clark, the now-ousted man in charge of the 737 Max program during the January incident, still hasn't interviewed with the NTSB.

Incoming Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg officially begins Thursday, one day after the hearing concludes in D.C.

The Department of Justice continues a separate, criminal investigation into Boeing, as well.