Boeing had “blatantly violated” federal rules by providing “non-public research information,” investigators said.
US investigators have sanctioned Boeing for disclosing details of an investigation into a mid-air explosion involving the 737 MAX and said they would refer its conduct to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), prompting the embattled planemaker to issue an apology.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday that Boeing had “flagrantly violated” its rules by providing “nonpublic investigative information” and speculating about possible causes of the Alaska Airlines door stopper emergency on Jan. 5 during a factory tour attended by dozens of journalists.
The decision sheds new light on tensions between the crisis-hit aircraft maker and government agencies as it tries to avoid criminal charges being weighed by the Justice Department ahead of a July 7 deadline.
“As part of many NTSB investigations over the past decades, few entities know the rules better than Boeing,” the NTSB stated.
The NTSB said Boeing would maintain its party status in the investigation into the Alaska Airlines emergency, but would no longer see information produced during its investigation into the crash, which involved the mid-air explosion of a missing door plug. four bolts.
Unlike other parties, Boeing will now not be allowed to ask questions of other participants at the Aug. 6-7 hearing.
“We deeply regret that some of our comments, intended to make clear our responsibility for the accident and explain the actions we are taking, exceeded the NTSB's role as a source of investigative information,” Boeing said in a statement.
The NTSB's criticism revolves around comments made during a news conference Tuesday at the 737 factory near Seattle, Washington, about quality improvements, widely seen as part of an exercise to show greater transparency.
During the briefing, which was held under an embargo allowing content to be published on Thursday, an executive said the cap had been opened on the assembly line without the correct documentation to fix a quality issue with the surrounding rivets. , and that the missing bolts were not replaced. .
The team that went in and closed the plug was not responsible for reinstalling the bolts, added Elizabeth Lund, Boeing's senior vice president of quality.
The NTSB said that by providing investigative information and an analysis of previously released information, Boeing had violated its agreement with the agency.
“Boeing offered opinions and analysis on the factors it suggested were causal to the accident,” he added.
Justice Department scrutiny
In May, the Justice Department said Boeing had violated a 2021 deal with prosecutors that shielded him from criminal charges for interactions with the Federal Aviation Administration before the MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.
U.S. prosecutors have recommended criminal charges be filed, Reuters reported on Sunday. The Justice Department already has a separate criminal investigation into the door-stop episode.
Thursday's unusual exchange marks the latest sign of tensions between Boeing and the NTSB.
In 2018, Boeing was widely criticized for issuing a statement that appeared to question the performance of pilots in the first of two fatal crashes that led to the grounding of the MAX. Later research emphasized the role of faulty software.
In March of this year, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told a US Senate hearing that Boeing had not provided the names of employees on its 737 MAX door team for two months, prompting criticism from legislators. Boeing then quickly provided the names.
On Thursday, the NTSB said Boeing had presented its investigation of the Alaska Airlines incident to the media as a search to locate the individual responsible for the connection work.
“The NTSB is instead focusing on the probable cause of the accident, not on assigning blame or assessing liability,” the agency said.
When asked during Tuesday's briefing who had not completed the paperwork, Lund said, “There may have been one or more than one employee. What I will say is that the “who” is absolutely the responsibility of the NTSB. “That investigation is still ongoing and I am not going to comment on that at this time.”
The role of individuals is a particularly sensitive issue in aviation safety, in a context of increasing attention to litigation and, in some countries, a tendency to criminalize air accidents.
Under global rules, agencies conduct civil investigations into air crashes with the sole purpose of finding the cause and making recommendations for improving safety in the future. These actions are separate from any judicial investigation seeking to assign blame.
