Boeing Sanctioned by US Investigators for Sharing Door Plug Blowout Details With Media

Alaska Airlines N704AL, a 737 Max 9, which made an emergency landing at Portland International Airport on Jan. 5, is parked on the tarmac in Portland, Ore., on Jan. 23, 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP)

Boeing is being sanctioned by federal investigators for sharing information related to an investigation into how a door plug blew off a 737 Max passenger jet mid-flight in January.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on June 27 accused Boeing of violating the agency’s investigative regulations, as well as a signed agreement, by providing nonpublic investigative information to the media. It also said the planemaker speculated about possible causes of the Jan. 5 door plug incident while an investigation was underway.

The NTSB was referring to a press tour of Boeing’s 737 Max factory in Renton, Washington, which was meant to showcase improvements made to quality control after the door plug failure on a jet operated by Alaska Airlines.

However, during a news briefing after the tour, a Boeing executive shared information that the NTSB “had not verified or authorized for release” and “offered opinions and analysis” on factors that might have contributed to the Alaska Air incident, the agency said, citing a transcript of the briefing it obtained from the company.

“Both of these actions are prohibited by the party agreement that Boeing signed when it was offered party status by the NTSB at the start of the investigation,” the federal regulator said, arguing that Boeing should have refrained from commenting, since the company has undergone “many NTSB investigations over the past decades” and knows the rules well.

Under new restrictions and sanctions, the NTSB said, Boeing will retain its party status to the investigation, but will no longer have access to information the agency produces as the investigation proceeds. The agency said it may subpoena any relevant records it requires during the course of its probe.

Boeing Responds

In an apology issued on June 27, Boeing said that it regrets some of the remarks made at the briefing.

“As we continue to take responsibility and work transparently, we conducted an in-depth briefing on our safety and quality plan and shared context on the lessons we have learned from the 5 January accident,” a spokesperson for the company said.

“We deeply regret that some of our comments, intended to make clear our responsibility in the accident and explain the actions we are taking, overstepped the NTSB’s role as the source of investigative information. We apologize to the NTSB and stand ready to answer any questions as the agency continues its investigation.”

The NTSB added in its announcement that it would refer the unauthorized information release to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is weighing whether to prosecute Boeing for violating a deferred prosecution agreement related to two fatal crashes of 737 Max 8s in 2018 and 2019. The two tragedies, in which both planes crashed under similar circumstances, killed a total of 346 people.

The families of those who died in those crashes have urged the DOJ to pursue “aggressive criminal prosecution” and subject Boeing to a $24 billion fine for what they called “the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history.”

During a June 18 Senate subcommittee hearing, Boeing CEO David Calhoun apologized to the crash victims’ families, while repeatedly assuring the senators that the company has cooperated with authorities and improved its safety management process.

“In our factories and in our supply chain, we took immediate action to ensure the specific circumstances that led to this accident would not happen again,” he said.