Boeing Worker Told Feds Broken Doors Were Replaced ‘Like Underwear’

Boeing employees interviewed by federal investigators in the seven months since an Alaska Airlines flight suffered a terrifying mid-air blowout told of the chaos inside the aerospace company’s factories, according to transcripts released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday. The agency is holding a hearing on the matter, at which many of the transcripts were read into evidence. In one interview, an employee, identified as Door Master Lead, told investigators that quality problems on the assembly line were rife, and that crucial airplane parts—like door plugs—had to be continually replaced by untrained workers. “Somewhere, ’22 or ’23, we were replacing doors like we were replacing our underwear: forward doors, cargo doors, E/E bay doors,” he said. “The planes come in jacked up every day. Every day.” Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB, said at Tuesday’s hearing that top personnel at Boeing were more than aware of the chaos and pressure in its factories. “My point is here, these are all known issues,” she said at one point. “They have been known for a number of years.”

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