Investigators reveal new details about Alaska Air door plug incident

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The pilot of a Boeing 737 Max jet described the door flying off of his jet as an “explosive experience” in thousands of pages of new documents, released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday.

Both the captain and the first officer lost their headsets, and the flight deck door blew open as the pilots scrambled to put on their oxygen masks and get the airplane on the ground, NTSB investigation documents said.

In the back of the aircraft, flight attendants said they struggled to communicate with the flight deck crew.

The new documents were released during the first day of the NTSB’s two-day hearings about the door plug incident on Tuesday.

“This was quite traumatic to the crew and passengers,” said Jennifer Homendy, the Chair of the NTSB.

Investigators said the 737 left Boeing’s factory missing four bolts that were supposed to hold the door plug to the body of the aircraft. The NTSB said factory workers repaired another portion of the door plug but left the four bolts off.

Spirit AeroSystems, a Boeing supplier, builds the fuselage and installed the door plug. The panel was taken off to repair rivets and when it was reinstalled, it was missing the four bolts.

In Tuesday’s hearing, the NTSB tried to drill down on the safety cultures of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, though Homendy grew frustrated with some of the answers.

“This is not a PR campaign for Boeing,” Homendy said. “What I want to know, what we want to know, is what happened.”

In interview transcripts from the NTSB’s investigation into the Alaska Air door incident, a Boeing Door Master Lead said Boeing’s safety culture is “Garbage. Nobody’s accountable.”

Both Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems blamed the pandemic for a loss of skilled workers.

Terry George, Senior Vice President at Spirit AeroSystems, said just 5% of factory workers had previously worked with sheet metal, compared to 95% five years ago.

“We’ve gone from a two-week training to currently we have a six-to-eight-week training,” George said.

International Association of Machinists representative Lloyd Catlin said Boeing also needs to improve its training.

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“There has been changes, but I don’t know that it’s enough,” Catlin said.

The NTSB will hold a second round of hearings on Wednesday. NTSB representatives said they will not release final conclusions on the accident during the hearings.

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