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Shocking punishment Boeing bosses handed whistleblower who complained about 'garbage' safety as jet maker identity is revealed
Boeing bosses forced workers into 'a jail' after an investigation into a door plug that later blew off an Alaska Airlines jet was launched, whistleblowers have claimed.
Seattle-area employees told the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) about being regularly pushed to continue production despite a 'garbage safety culture'.
Federal investigators probing Boeing were told that employees were reassigned after the investigation started to what was described as 'literally in a jail, in a cage'.
While an employee that specializes in removing and reinstalling door plugs described the safety culture as 'garbage, nobody's accountable'.
Citing persistent debris and tools strewn across the factory, the anonymous worker said: 'Here, it's just push-push-push, push-push-push, you know.'
The revelations came as part of a two-day hearing led by the NTSB into concerns around the embattled aviation firm.
The claims came during a federal hearing earlier this week which is probing the company after a door plug flew out of a Boeing 737 Max midair in January, seen here
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy speaks during an investigative hearing on the Alaska Airlines Flight
A door installer also told the hearing that he was never told to take shortcuts but everyone faced pressure to keep assembly going.
He told investigators: 'That's how mistakes are made. People try to work too fast', like other workers involved he was not named in probe documents.
The claims came during a federal hearing earlier this week which is probing the company after a door plug flew out of a Boeing 737 Max midair in January.
Investigators said the jet left the company's factory in Renton, Washington, without critical bolts that hold the fuselage in place.
It had been installed by a supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, before being removed at a Boeing factory so that workers could repair damaged rivets.
However, the bolt to help secure door plug were never replaced before it left the factory. It is not clear who removed the panel.
Workers also told investigators that they were 'put in uncharted waters to do everybody's dirty work because no want to touch it'.
The workers' accounts were among more than 3,000 pages of documents released by the NTSB as it began the two-day hearing.
Boeing has been the subject of multiple investigations from federal authorities regarding the safety and quality of its planes in recent years
The door blew out while the plane was cruising at 16,00 feet, forcing a quick response from the pilots to get the craft grounded to protect passengers
The Alaska Airlines co-pilot told investigators in the documents that: 'It was chaos', while the Captain said it was so loud he could hardly hear the flight attendants.
On an intercom, he heard them talking about a hole in the plane. He decided to land the plane as quickly as possible.
The accident on flight 1282 occurred minutes after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, as the plane flew at 16,000 feet (4,800 meters).
Oxygen masks dropped during the rapid decompression, a few cell phones and other objects were were swept out the door, there were no major injuries.
It was also revealed that Boeing conducted a safety risk assessment on how workers remove parts like door during manufacturing, without documentation.
The FAA said they asked the company to address the problem, issuing a quality alert on it in July 2023, just two months before the jet involved in the incident left its Renton factory.
Boeing workers told investigators they were left confused about requirements for conducting 'removals' of critical parts of the aircrafts.
One crew lead said a manager involved with removing and reinstalling door plugs was new and didn't 'really understand doors'.
This photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows the door plug that fell from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on Jan. 8
The FAA said they asked the company to address the problem, issuing a quality alert on it in July 2023, just two months before the jet involved in the incident left its Renton factory, seen here
Elizabeth Lund, senior vice president of quality for Boeing , speaks during an investigative hearing at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) headquarters on August 6
The FAA also admitted that getting the company to improve their standards was difficult.
Jim Phoenix, who managed to FAA office overseeing their manufacturing, said: 'You need a lot of leverage to get Boeing to change and then when Boeing changes, it's very slow and it took a long time for them to really understand that their quality system needed to improve.'
While the Alaska unfolded, it was also revealed that there was an issue onboard the company's 737 jets with their oxygen generators.
The FAA had to order airlines to inspect oxygen canisters on over 2,600 737s, noting the hazard they face should passengers need assistance breathing in-flight.
Boeing and Spirit executives said turnover since the coronavirus pandemic has left the companies with less-experienced workforces.
Elizabeth Lund, who has served as Boeing´s senior vice president of quality - a new position - since February, said before the pandemic most new hires at Boeing factories had aerospace experience, often in the military.
Now, she said, 'considerably more of our employees did not have that aerospace experience.'
A representative of the machinists' union said Boeing cut back on inspections and training over the last several years.
Lund said the company has significantly increased training since the Alaska Airlines blowout, and that the company is trying to improve quality.
Boeing production of Max jets dropped below 10 per month after the blowout and remains under 30 per month, Lund said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has set a limit of 38 per month until it is satisfied that Boeing's manufacturing process is producing safe planes.
Robert 'Kelly' Ortberg takes over the beleaguered company as of today, and plans to walk the floor of the Washington factory that has become the heart of its troubles
The accident involving the plug led to several investigations of Boeing, most of which are still underway.
The FBI has told passengers on the Alaska Airlines flight that they might be victims of a crime.
The Justice Department pushed Boeing to plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit fraud after finding that it failed to live up to a previous settlement related to regulatory approval of the Max.
Boeing, which has yet to recover financially from two deadly crashes of Max jets in 2018 and 2019, has lost more than $25 billion since the start of 2019.
The door-plug incident has spawned a change of CEO at the company and more federal oversight on their manufacturing.
Robert 'Kelly' Ortberg takes over the beleaguered company as of today, and plans to walk the floor of the Washington factory that has become the heart of its troubles.
In a memo to employees on Thursday, Ortberg said: 'While we clearly have a lot of work to do in restoring trust, I'm confident that working together, we will return the company to be the industry leader we all expect.'
Boeing is a century-old aviation innovator with roots in Seattle, although the headquarters moved to Chicago and then to the Washington, D.C., area.
The new CEO is planting a symbolic flag in the ground back in the Pacific Northwest.
Boeing announced Ortberg's selection just over a week ago, on the same day that it posted another huge loss, more than $1.4 billion in the second quarter, which was marked by a steep drop in deliveries of new airline planes, including the 737 Max.