Boeing
has been under increased scrutiny ever since a door panel blew off an Alaska
Airlines plane in mid-flight.
Now,
you can add
the Department of Justice to that list.
The
DOJ has opened a criminal investigation into the January 5 incident.
The
government agency is sifting through various documents and plans to interview
pilots, crew and passengers. The airplane was a 737 Max
9 jet. There were no serious injuries, although, the pilot had to return to
Portland, Oregon, for an emergency landing.
“In an event like this, it’s normal for the DOJ to be conducting
an investigation,” Alaska Airlines said in a prepared statement. “We are fully
cooperating and do not believe we are a target of the investigation.”
Boeing declined to comment.
This
investigation will apparently focus on whether Boeing complied with a previous
investigation into the 737 series of planes. In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5
billion to settle an investigation into the crashes of flights operated by Lion
Air and Ethiopian Airlines.
Both involved a
737 plane.
Boeing accused of not cooperating
Boeing was taken
to task earlier this week by a United States Senator for allegedly
withholding information from a National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) investigation. Boeing has acknowledged in a letter to Congress that it cannot
find records for work done on the door panel of the Alaska Airlines plane.
“We have looked extensively and have not found
any such documentation,” Ziad Ojakli, Boeing executive vice president and chief
government lobbyist, wrote in a reply to Sen. Maria Cantwell.
At issue is whether
Boeing cooperated with NTSB investigators. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy testified
that for two months, Boeing repeatedly refused to identify employees who work on
door panels.
“It’s absurd
that two months later we don’t have that,” Homendy said. “Without that
information, that raises concerns about quality assurance, quality management,
safety management systems” at Boeing.
Boeing is also
under a deadline from the Federal Aviation Administration, which gave the
company 90 days to develop a safety plan.
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