A harrowing incident in which a fuselage panel blew off an Alaska Airlines flight midair is being blamed on workers at Boeing's plant in Washington state.
An unidentified source who's familiar with the details of the work claims that the plane's fuselage panel had been removed for repairs and was improperly reinstalled.
"The reason the door blew off is stated in black and white in Boeing's own records," the whistleblower wrote in response to an article about the door plug incident on the Leeham.net aviation website. "It is also very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business."
The whistleblower claims that Boeing mechanics failed to replace four bolts that prevent the door plug from sliding off the door frame stop pads under pressure. That door plug blew out of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on January 5 about 20 minutes after takeoff, causing an uncontrolled decompression in the cabin as the plane was 16,000 feet over Portland, Oregon.
The Seattle Times reports that if confirmed by the National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing would be principally responsible for the disaster rather than its supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which originally fitted the panel in the 737 MAX 9 fuselage.
According to The Times, the removal and re-installation of the door plug was never logged into the computer system Boeing uses to record and track 737 assembly work. As a result, a quality inspection -- which would have revealed the crucial bolts were never reinstalled -- was not triggered.
The news contrasts earlier reports that suggested Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems had improperly installed the panel before delivering the part to Boeing.
Boeing officials have not yet commented on the report.
The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing to investigating the incident.
Meantime, Alaska Airlines and Boeing are facing a lawsuit brought by multiple passengers who claim they experienced "havoc, fear, trauma, [and] severe and extreme distress" during the midair blowout.
None of the 171 passengers and six crew members were seriously injured.