The National Transportation Safety Board is meeting Tuesday to review the investigation into what led to the failure of a door plug on American Airlines Flight 1282 in 2024.
Everyone survived the mid-air incident which occurred shortly after he flight took off from Portland, Oregon, The Associated Press reported.
The plane was at 16,000 feet when a door plug in the plane’s cabin flew off, creating a vacuum that pulled items from the plane.
Seven passengers and one flight attendant were hurt, but no one was killed. The plane returned to the airport and landed safely.
The NTSB also criticized the Federal Aviation Administration’s rules do not require infants to be secured on a flight. Three infants were being held on their parents’ laps at the time of the incident. One mother thought she lost her child when the door plug blew and vacuum sucked items out of the plane, CNN reported.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said that the heroic actions of the crew ensured everyone survived.
However, she said, “the crew shouldn’t have had to be heroes, because this accident never should have happened,” if both Boeing and the FAA had ensured that the Boeing 737 Max was safe, the AP reported
The 17-month investigation found that not only were the bolts holding the door plug panel not replaced when they had been removed. But Homendy said “an accident like this only happens when there are multiple system failures," the AP reported.
The 2-foot-by-4-foot door plug that covered an operational emergency exit came out. It had been removed so workers at the Boeing factory could repair damaged rivets. When the plug was reinstalled, the bolts were not replaced. CNN reported Boeing said the work that removed the bolts was not documented so workers did not know they needed to be replaced, according to the NTSB’s preliminary report.
The agency’s investigation had shown that they were missing when the plane was transferred to Alaska Air in October 2023, CNN reported.
NTSB investigators said that the plug was moving slowly upward over the 154 flights before the fateful flight.
Boeing workers told investigators that they felt pressure to work fast and that they were instructed to do jobs they were not qualified for. Only one person of a team of 24 had the experience working on a door plug and that person was off when the work was done.
The final report on the Alaska Airlines incident will be released in a few weeks, CNN reported.
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