First day held 10 hours of interviews with company leaders and witnesses.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted a two-day investigative hearing into Boeing this week, examining key witnesses and evidence. The board released over 3,800 pages of factual reports and interviews ahead of the hearing, documenting the entire review process in the wake of a door plug flying off an Alaskan Airlines Boeing mid-flight in January.
Boeing’s senior vice president for quality, Elizabeth Lund, testified that the company is working on plane design changes to avoid similar malfunctions in the future. “They are working on some design changes that will allow the door plug to not be closed if there’s any issue until it’s firmly secured,” she said.
However, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy criticized the planemaker’s safety practices, which will take more than a plane design change to improve. “The safety culture needs a lot of work,” Chair Homendy said.
Boeing workers claimed that the company put pressure on them to work faster and even perform work that they were not qualified to do. One worker testified that there was pressure to keep the assembly line moving. He said, “That’s how mistakes are made. People try to work too fast.”
Another focus of the NTSB hearing was the lack of oversight of Boeing by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We have a lot of questions,” Chair Homendy said about FAA oversight of Boeing. “There was information known,” the NTSB chair said, citing defects, missing and incorrect documents as well as incorrect policies that “have been issues for years.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For wisdom for Chair Homendy and members of the NTSB as they review findings and testimony.
- For Administrator Whitaker as he endeavors to improve the FAA’s oversight of Boeing and other airplane manufacturers.
Sources: Reuters, Newsmax
