Pressure mounts on Boeing: Alaska Airlines plane fails 33 of 89 audits after fuselage explodes

As Boeing faces multiple government investigations, The company needs to make “serious changes”. Regarding its safety and product quality, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday.

The comments came a day later Buttigieg said the planemaker was under “massive” scrutiny by his department after a panel fell from a Boeing 737 Max plane mid-flight.

on weekends, The Wall Street Journal The Justice Department has reportedly opened a criminal investigation into the January 5 airliner explosion. Alaska Airlines. The company acknowledged that it could not find records of the National Transportation Safety Board inspecting the panel work at the Boeing factory.

The Federal Aviation Administration, part of Buttigieg’s department, is also investigating Boeing.

“We obviously respect the freedom of the DOJ (Department of Justice) and the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) to do their own work,” Buttigieg told reporters Monday, “but we’re not neutral on the Boeing issue. “Any entity: the NTSB, us or Full cooperation should be given with the Department of Justice. They should do it, and we hope they will.

Buttigieg said Boeing “must go through a serious transformation in terms of its responsiveness, its culture and its quality issues.”

Boeing responded in one sentence.

“We will continue to fully and transparently cooperate with all government investigations and audits, taking comprehensive steps to improve safety and quality at Boeing.”The company said.

Alaska Airlines said it was cooperating with the Justice Department’s investigation.

“In such an event, it is normal for the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation,” the Seattle-based airline said in a statement. “We are cooperating fully and do not believe we are the target of the investigation.”

He New York Times Boeing failed 33 of 89 FAA audits during an examination after the Alaska Airlines plane exploded, reported Tuesday.

The extensive six-week audit found dozens of problems in various parts of the 737 Max, the newspaper reported, citing a slide presentation on the audit of aspects of the production process.

The report said seven of the 13 focused on audits Spirit Aerosystems, which forms the body of the plane, also failed. An example was cited of Dawn using liquid dish soap to lubricate door seals during the “installation” process.

An audit related to the door plug, the part that exploded on the Alaska Airlines plane, found problems at both Boeing and Spirit Aerosystems.

In an emailed comment on the report, Boeing said Tuesday that it will continue to implement the changes and “develop a comprehensive action plan to strengthen safety and quality and build trust with our customers and their passengers.”

“We are fully focused on taking meaningful and demonstrable action with transparency at all times”The company said.

Last week, Arlington, Virginia-based Boeing came under fire from NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendi for its lack of work records on Alaska’s planes. She told the Senate committee that Boeing had repeatedly rejected her agency’s attempts to obtain information since the explosion. Boeing disputed some of Hommandy’s claims; The NTSB stood by its testimony.

The FAA banned Boeing from ramping up production of MAX planes and gave the company 90 days to come up with a plan to fix the quality control problems.

(with information from AP)