The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will question key witnesses from Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems, and the Federal Aviation Administration over the mid-air cabin panel explosion of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 door plug.
The board also plans to release documents, including factual reports and evidence of the ongoing investigation, at the start of the two-day investigative hearing. The January incident severely damaged Boeing’s reputation and led to a two-week suspension of MAX 9 production, a ban by the FAA on expanding production, a criminal investigation, and the firing of several key executives.
Boeing senior vice president of quality Elizabeth Lund and vice president of supplier quality Doug Ackerman are among those who will testify at the hearing. It would last 20 hours over two days, the NTSB reported.
Terry George, senior vice president and general manager for Boeing Programme at Spirit AeroSystems, and Scott Grabon, a senior director for 737 quality at Spirit, which makes the fuselage for the MAX, will also attend the hearing.
The hearing will address issues such as 737 production and inspections, safety and quality management systems, FAA oversight, and the opening and closing of the door plug.
A Spirit spokesperson stated that the company was “fully committed to cooperating with the NTSB in its investigation into this incident.” In June, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker claimed the agency was “too hands off” in its oversight of Boeing until January. In June, the NTSB said Boeing violated investigative rules when Lund provided non-public information to media and speculated about possible causes of the incident.
Last month, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to fraud conspiracy and pay a fine of at least $243.6 million to settle a Justice Department investigation into two fatal 737 MAX crashes.
