The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a preliminary report for its ongoing investigation into the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 door plug incident.

 

Jason Rabinowitz, co-host of Flightradar24’s AvTalk podcast, shared findings from the report.

“Indications that…’four bolts that prevent upward movement of the MED plug were missing before the MED plug moved upward off the stop pads,'” Rabinowitz wrote.

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* Image from Jason Rabinowitz X Post *

“NTSB confirms that Spirit AeroSystems delivered the fuselage to Boeing Airplanes with defects around the door plug that required its opening. Photos from Boeing actually show the door plug opened for work, then closed again ***without the bolts to hold it in place***,” he continued.

“The NTSB’s report only includes facts and comes to no conclusions. But it sure does confirm reports from The Air Current and elsewhere that a massive process and documentation problem exists between Boeing and Spirit,” he added.

KIRO 7 News reports:

A new report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that four critical bolts were missing from a door plug during a midair blowout aboard an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

Although previous investigations into Boeing 737 MAX 9s for Alaska and United Airlines had revealed that several bolts were loose on the planes, this new report reveals that the issue on the Jan. 5 flight was that the four key bolts that hold the door plug in place weren’t there at all.

“Overall, the observed damage patterns and absence of contact damage or deformation around holes associated with the vertical movement arrestor bolts and upper guide track bolts in the upper guide fittings, hinge fittings, and recovered aft lower hinge guide fitting indicate that the four bolts that prevent upward movement of the MED plug were missing before the MED [mid exit door] plug moved upward off the stop pads,” the NTSB report reads.

Earlier on Tuesday, Federal Aviation Administration Director Michael Whitaker was grilled by lawmakers in Washington, D.C., where he vowed to bring “a heightened level of oversight” to Boeing’s production facilities in the months to come.

He also said that he anticipates having inspectors on-site will be a permanent policy moving forward to ensure safety and compliance.

 

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