© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 MAX Flight 1282, which was forced to make an emergency landing with a hole in the fuselage, is seen during its investigation by the National Board Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Portland.
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Monday that he expects Boeing (NYSE to cooperate in investigations by the Justice Department and the National Transportation Safety Board into the airborne emergency of the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 on January 5.
“We respect the independence of the Department of Justice and the NTSB in doing their own work, but we are not neutral on the question of whether Boeing should fully cooperate with any word from the NTSB because they should,” Buttigieg said at a news conference.
He said Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Michael Whitaker made it clear to Boeing that “they need to go through a serious transformation in terms of their responsiveness and their culture.”
Boeing, which did not immediately comment Monday, said Friday that it believes that during production of a 737 MAX 9, required documents that should have detailed the removal of a key part that failed were never created. The company said it is “committed to continuing to fully and transparently cooperate with the NTSB investigation.”
Alaska Airlines said Saturday that it is cooperating with the Justice Department in its criminal investigation:
“It is normal that the Department of Justice is conducting an investigation. We are cooperating fully and do not believe we are the target of the investigation.”
In the wake of the incident, the FAA grounded the MAX 9 for several weeks, prohibited Boeing from increasing the production rate of the MAX, and ordered it to develop a comprehensive plan to address “systemic quality control issues” within 90 days. .
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy on Wednesday criticized what she called Boeing's lack of cooperation and failure to disclose some documents, including the opening and closing of the door plugs, as well as the names of 25 workers. of door personnel at the 737 factory in Renton, Washington. .
“It's absurd that two months later we don't have it,” Homendy said.
After Homendy's comments, Boeing provided the 25 names.
Whitaker said Monday that the agency and Boeing hope to define in the next 30 days the milestones that Boeing must meet.
“We're really focused on the quality assurance process where there really are gaps,” Whitaker said, citing issues such as “employees having the right tools and training, the right engineering drawings and assembling the aircraft in the right order.” “.
