Alaksa Airlines fuselage panel incident could be Boeing’s fault

A photo shared on twitter of the Alaska Airlines plane after a section of the window and side wall blew out. Photo / Twitter

Boeing may be at fault for the Alaska Airlines flight 373 near-disaster involving a fuselage panel that blew off, according to two anonymous whistleblowers.

On January 5, a panel called a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines aircraft while it was 16,000 feet in the air. No one was seriously injured, but the incident sparked a serious investigation into the aircraft’s manufacturer, Boeing.

Now, two individuals who appear to have details about the aircraft’s assembly suggest it was not correctly built in the Washington factory.

Last week, an individual who appeared to have confidential manufacturing records for the assembly of the specific aircraft shared a detailed account of what they believe caused the incident.

Posted on an aviation website Leeham News, the self-described Boeing employee said the door plug on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jet was removed but then incorrectly reinstalled.

“I will save you waiting two years for the NTSB report to come out and give it to you for free: the reason the door blew off is stated in black and white in Boeing’s own records,” they wrote under the username throwawayboeingN704AL.

NEW IMAGE from on board Alaska Airlines 1282 after ***part of the fuselage*** blew out mid-flight. Successful emergency return to Portland after 20 minutes in the air. 10-week-old (!) Boeing 737 Max 9. NTSB investigating. pic.twitter.com/qjX8fQ1br1

— Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) January 6, 2024

“There are four bolts that prevent the mid-exit door plug from sliding up off of the doorstop fittings that take the actual pressurisation loads in flight,” they explained.

“These four bolts were not installed when Boeing delivered the airplane. Our own records reflect this”.

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As for how the mistake was made, the person largely put it down to the company’s culture.

“There’s lots more to be said about the culture that enabled this to happened,” they concluded.

Days later, another individual familiar with the project details approached the Seattle Times with a similar story, blaming the Boeing team. Boeing declined to comment when the Seattle Times provided the company a chance to dispute the story’s details.