The Boeing BA 737 MAX 9 door plug that blew out during a harrowing Alaska Airlines flight earlier this month was manufactured in Malaysia, said the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
According to the Wall Street Journal, NTSB chairperson Jennifer Homendy said that Spirit AeroSystems produced the door plug in Malaysia.
It was then transported to the Boeing supplier factory in Wichita, Kansas, and eventually on a train to the plane maker’s 737 factory in Renton, Washington state.
However, she clarified that the problem could be from other aspects, not just in manufacturing and that the safety board’s investigation would delve into the door plug’s production, transport, installation and entry into service as well as quality checks along the way.
“We have no indication right now of where in the process this occurred. This could be anywhere along the line, and we are not just pinpointing manufacturing,” she said after a closed-door briefing with Senate Commerce Committee members.
Several senators who attended the briefing said the jets might have to remain grounded while the investigation advances.
The door plug on the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft is used to seal unused emergency exits. It is intended to be opened only during maintenance.
On Jan 5, the door plug for one such aircraft serving Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 blew out as it took off from Portland International Airport, depressurising the cabin and exposing passengers to open air thousands of feet above the ground, according to the NTSB.
No one was seriously injured and the plane made a safe emergency landing.
Its emergency door plug was found in the backyard of a schoolteacher in Portland, Oregon.
The door plug was seen having handwritten inventory information, as well as the note “Made in Malaysia” next to the serial number of the part.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded about 170 MAX 9 jets after the Alaska blowout and emergency landing, adding that the aircraft would be banned from flying passengers until it evaluated data from inspections of the planes’ door plugs.
Loose hardware in other jets
Alaska and United Airlines have said they found other MAX 9s in their fleets with loose hardware surrounding those jets’ door plugs.
Homendy said Wednesday that some bolts on the door plugs were supposed to be loose and were not meant to be torqued. Instead, she said, they were secured by pins.
The NTSB’s metallurgical analysis will be looking for signs of fatigue cracking and corrosion and other potential factors that led to the Alaska blowout, she added.
The FAA also said Wednesday its investigation into Boeing’s manufacturing processes included those involving Spirit, once a unit of the aerospace giant it sold off in 2005. Spirit AeroSystems has manufacturing facilities in Subang.
FAA chief Mike Whitaker told the Wall Street Journal last week “all indications are it’s manufacturing” that led to the Alaska accident and not a design flaw with the door plugs.
Passengers suing
Malaysia's Transport Minister Anthony Loke said last week that he had yet to receive any information on it.
“We got no information and I can't comment. It's not under my purview (the investigation) and I can only give a general comment. We don't know if it's true or real. We found that it was a report made by an observer.
“If there is an official report from the airline company we will ask to look into it and ask the CAAM (Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia) to handle it,” he added.
ABC News reported that four passengers are suing Alaska Airlines and Boeing for alleged injuries including "intense fear, distress, anxiety, trauma and physical pain," according to the complaint.
"Plaintiffs feared the gaping hole in the fuselage, rapid depressurisation, and general havoc was a prelude to the plane's destruction and their own likely death," the complaint stated. - Mkini
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