FAA Says Portland 737 MAX Blowout Exposed Hundreds of Boeing Safety Violations
On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a $3.1 million fine for Boeing over the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX panel blowout on a flight that took off from Portland last year and other safety violations.
Aircraft Plug Rupture On Portland Flight Could Cost Boeing $3.1M In FAA Fines
Six minutes after taking off from Portland International Airport on Jan. 5, 2024, an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX flight carrying 171 passengers and six crew members bound for Ontario, California, a 2-by-4-foot door plug blew off the plane in the 26th row.
Seat parts, the shirt worn by a 15-year-old boy, and electronic devices such as phones and other personal items were immediately sucked out of the plane.
The pilot turned back and made an emergency landing in Portland, with no serious injuries reported, but the FAA has now indicated that hundreds of safety violations in the months leading up to the incident have been identified, occurring at the manufacturer’s Renton, Washington, factory and its supplier Spirit AeroSystems between September 2023 and February 2024.
The timeframe for the 17-month investigation included the January 2024 incident, where a paneled-over exit door, known as a door plug, blew out. Boeing presented two unairworthy aircraft to the FAA for airworthiness certificates. The FAA indicated that the airline company failed to follow its quality system.
In June, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded the investigations, finding that lapses in Boeing’s manufacturing and safety oversight and ineffective FAA inspections and audits contributed to the door plug blowout.
The FAA also indicated that Boeing interfered with a safety program designed to allow certain Boeing employees to help FAA workers monitor the manufacturer. The agency has not provided more details on the quality system violations it has found in Boeing’s operations so far.
Boeing has 30 days to respond to the FAA, which has confirmed that it has applied “the maximum statutory civil penalty authority,” although this is lower than many previous fines issued in the past.
Boeing has been designing and implementing a safety and quality plan, which includes key performance metrics to gauge the quality of its airplanes as they move through the factory, since the Portland panel blowout.