'I'm sure we've lost passengers': Alaska Airlines flight attendants detail terrifying panel blowout incident



The Alaska Airlines flight attendants, who were on Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, on January 5 when a door panel flew off the aircraft mid-flight, recently shared details of their experience, Fox Business reported.

The National Transportation Safety Board held a hearing on Tuesday about the terrifying incident involving the Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplane that was carrying 171 passengers and six crew members.

'Safety culture needs a lot of work.'

The aircraft ultimately landed safely at Portland International Airport; however, the incident remains under investigation. Eight passengers reported minor injuries.

Interviews conducted with the flight attendants onboard the aircraft that day were shared at Tuesday's hearing.

According to officials, one attendant thought that some passengers had been sucked out of the airplane after she saw the door panel was missing and noticed five empty seats around it.

The attendant testified, "I said there is a hole in the plane, in the back of the plane, and I'm sure we've lost passengers."

Additionally, the employee expressed concern about an unaccompanied child who was on the aircraft.

"All I could think of was that he was sitting there, and he was too small to reach the mask and was probably really scared," the flight attendant said.

Another flight attendant on the plane told officials, "I think I was able to (blurt) out, 'I think we have a hole, and we might've lost passengers.' And then it seemed like I just lost contact. I tried calling back, tried speaking loudly into the phone. I couldn't hear anything."

"Probably the scariest thing was I didn't have exact communication with my flight deck, and at first I didn't know if the decompression was in the front, if we have pilots, and not being able to fully communicate with the back," the second flight attendant remarked.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy stated Tuesday that neither the board nor Boeing has been able to determine who was responsible for previously removing the door plug on the jet to perform maintenance work before it was reinstalled and delivered to Alaska Airlines.

According to Homendy, the board has not been able to speak with the door plug team manager, who may have been one of the individuals responsible for inspecting the panel before it was delivered to Alaska Airlines with all four bolts missing.

"The safety culture needs a lot of work (at Boeing)," Homendy said. "It is not there from the evidence itself, from what you see in the interviews. There's not a lot of trust, there's a lot of distrust within the workforce."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

DOJ to offer Boeing plea agreement amid potential fraud charges — crash victims' families slam 'sweetheart' deal



The Department of Justice is preparing to offer Boeing a plea deal that would require the company to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration in connection with two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people, Reuters reported.

The DOJ claims that Boeing violated a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the department, a source told the news outlet. As part of the agreement, a criminal charge against Boeing was dropped, and the company was asked to revise its compliance practices and submit to routine reporting. The aerospace company also agreed to pay $2.5 billion to end the investigation.

In May, the DOJ accused Boeing of violating the terms of the agreement, stating that it failed to "design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations."

Boeing disagreed with the DOJ's findings, claiming it has "honored the terms" of the agreement.

The relatives of those killed in the two crashes were briefed on the proposed settlement on Sunday. According to their attorney, they are urging U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor to reject what they have called a "sweetheart" deal for Boeing.

Paul Cassell, a lawyer representing the relatives, said, "The Justice Department is preparing to offer Boeing another sweetheart plea deal."

"The families will strenuously object to this plea deal," Cassell noted.

The plea deal would require the company to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the FAA. Boeing would have to pay half of a $487.2 million penalty, with prosecutors allowing the company to receive credit for previous settlement payments. Additionally, Boeing would have to meet with the relatives and submit to third-party audits for three years.

Boeing and the DOJ declined a request for comment, Reuters reported.

Anything else?

Boeing faced further scrutiny in January after one of its aircraft experienced a mid-flight door panel blowout. A preliminary U.S. National Transportation Safety Board report found that the Alaska Airlines plane may have left the Boeing factory without the key bolts needed to secure the panels in place. The NTSB's investigation discovered that Spirit AeroSystems, a fuselage maker, had performed maintenance work on the aircraft before delivering it to the airline. The maintenance required the door panel to be removed and reinstalled.

On Monday, Boeing announced that it plans to buy back Spirit AeroSystems, its former subsidiary. The company aims to improve safety and quality control at the struggling company. Boeing agreed to pay $37.25 per share for a value of $4.7 billion.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

NTSB confirms it was 'unnecessary' to create a toxic 'mushroom cloud' over East Palestine



A Norfolk Southern freight train with 141 loaded cars, nine empty cars, and three locomotives was making its way through Ohio the evening of Feb. 3, 2023, when disaster struck.

Thirty-eight cars, 11 of which contained hazardous materials — including vinyl chloride, benzene residue, hydrogen chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene — went off the tracks in the town of East Palestine. The worst, however, had yet to come.

The flames that apparently first showed beneath the train soon transformed part of the pile of derailed cars into an inferno.

'We basically nuked a town with chemicals.'

Days into the fires, Norfolk Southern emergency crews, under the supervision of purported experts and first responders, started their own blaze.

Citing the need to avoid a "catastrophic tanker failure," the railway conducted a vent and burn of five tanks of vinyl chloride, darkening the sky above East Palestine with what the National Transportation Safety Board called a toxic "mushroom cloud."

Silverio Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist, told WKBN, "We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open."

Local creatures died off in the thousands. Nearby water was poisoned. Residents had to flee their homes.

Apparently it was all for nothing.

The NTSB announced Tuesday that the decision by the local incident commander on Feb. 6 to execute the controlled burn "was based on incomplete and misleading information provided by Norfolk Southern officials and contractors. The vent and burn was not necessary to prevent a tank car failure."

While the Federal Railroad Administration maintains that a vent and burn procedure should be the last resort, the NTSB indicated the railway "rejected three other removal methods and began planning for a vent and burn shortly after the derailment."

According to an abstract for the NTSB's final report, the "observed downward temperature trend in tank car OCPX80370 indicates that polymerization was not occurring within the tank car, contrary to the representation by Norfolk Southern Railway and its contractors."

Polymerization similarly did not occur in the tank cars containing vinyl chloride monomer — which "remained in a stabilized environment until the vent and burn" — meaning their alarmist defense of blowing up the trains was unfounded.

The safety board claimed the railway withheld information from Oxy Vinyls, the company that made the vinyl chloride, as well as information indicating the tank cars were cooling after the derailment, reported the Associated Press.

Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB, indicated that investigators were told by a Norfolk Southern contractor that it did not keep records of temperature changes on the tank cars containing vinyl chloride.

'We found through text messages through one of their employees, who provided that information in later interviews, that they did keep those records," said the NTSB chair. "It took about two months before the team received those texts and the emails."

Temperature readings were highly relevant when making the decision to execute a controlled burn.

In a statement Tuesday, Norfolk Southern once again defended its decision, claiming it carefully considered all alternatives.

It also alleged that it and its contractors "received conflicting information from Oxy Vinyls' personnel as to whether polymerization was or could be occurring. And Oxy Vinyls' safety data sheet was clear that polymerization was possible in the circumstances observed at the derailment."

Contrary to the railroad's suggestion, Oxy Vinyls experts reportedly testified at previous NTSB hearings that they were certain at the time that polymerization wasn't happening.

At the NTSB's hearing Tuesday, Homendy also accused Norfolk Southern — which has spent nearly $100 million greasing the hands of politicians in Washington, D.C., since 1990 — of tripping up the investigation and abusing its status as a party to the investigation,

"Norfolk Southern’s abuse of the party process was unprecedented and reprehensible," said Homendy.

The railroad apparently dragged its feet when providing investigators with critical information. At other times, Homendy suggested that Norfolk Southern did not even bother providing requested information.

The NTSB also stressed in its report that Norfolk Southern's delayed provision of consistent information to emergency responders "needlessly increased the time emergency responders spent near the derailment pileup and delayed the evacuation order, resulting in unnecessary and increased exposure of emergency responders and the public to postderailment hazards."

The release of the board's findings comes one month after a federal judge approved Norfolk Southern's $600 million class action settlement addressing class-action claims within a 20-mile radius of the derailment and personal injury claims within 10 miles of the derailment.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Senate Approves FAA Reauthorization, Sends Bill To House Just Before Key Deadline

'The American people expect and deserve the safest, most reliable and modern aerospace system in the world'

Norfolk Southern Reaches $600 Million Settlement With East Palestine Train Derailment Victims

'[I]ndividuals within 10 miles of the derailment may, at their discretion, choose to receive additional compensation'

Alaska Airlines receives ‘initial’ $160M from Boeing after mid-flight panel blowout — additional compensation ‘expected’



Boeing paid Alaska Airlines $160 million following the mid-flight door panel blowout incident that occurred earlier this year, the airline stated on Thursday.

In a recent United States Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Alaska Airlines reported that Boeing provided the "initial compensation ... to address the financial damages incurred as a result of Flight 1282 and the 737-9 MAX groundings."

In January, Flight 1282 experienced a mid-air door panel blowout that forced the plane to make an emergency landing. Multiple investigations were launched as a result of the incident. The Federal Aviation Administration briefly grounded 171 Max 9 airplanes while inspections were underway, causing thousands of flight cancelations.

A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board found that all four bolts designed to secure the panel in place were missing from the aircraft. Records revealed that before the plane was delivered to Alaska Airlines, it underwent rivet repairs that required the panel to be temporarily removed and reinstalled upon completion. The repair work was completed by Spirit AeroSystems, a former Boeing subsidiary, before the aircraft was returned to Boeing's Renton, Washington, facility.

The NTSB continues to investigate the incident. The Department of Justice also launched its own investigation.

Alaska Airlines' SEC filing stated that the company lost approximately $160 million in the first quarter of 2024 due to the mandatory grounding of some of its Boeing planes.

"As a result of the Flight 1282 accident and the Boeing 737-9 MAX grounding, we lost approximately $160 million in Q1 pretax profit, primarily comprising lost revenues, costs due to irregular operations, and costs to restore our fleet to operating service," the airline wrote.

Boeing paid Alaska Airlines the compensation in cash during the first quarter.

"This cash payment is equivalent to the lost profits resulting from the accident and grounding in Q1 2024. Additional compensation is expected to be provided beyond Q1, the complete terms of which are confidential," it added.

Boeing referred to statements made last month by CFO Brian West when contacted for comment, ABC News reported. During the Bank of America Industrials Conference, West remarked that there will be "customer consideration that is going to manifest itself in the quarter."

"We've got to take care of that and we're well down the road to do that. And we continue to stand behind our customers with that responsibility," West added.

The mid-flight panel blowout ignited a safety scandal for Boeing, prompting a management shake-up. In February, Boeing removed Ed Clark, the head of its 737 Max program. In March, it announced that CEO Dave Calhoun would leave the company at the end of the year. Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal announced his immediate retirement last month. Larry Kellner, board chairman, is set to resign and not seek re-election in May.

Last week, Calhoun stated, "The eyes of the world are on us, and I know that we will come through this moment a better company."

"We will remain squarely focused on completing the work we have done together to return our company to stability after the extraordinary challenges of the past five years, with safety and quality at the forefront of everything that we do," he said.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Texas AG Paxton demands info on DEI practices as part of new probe into Boeing parts supplier



Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) launched an investigation into Spirit AeroSystems, a Boeing parts supplier, over “reoccurring issues with certain airplane parts,” according to a Sunday press release from the AG’s office.

Spirit AeroSystems, a former Boeing subsidiary, manufactures the fuselages for Boeing’s 737 airplanes, the same aircraft that experienced a mid-flight door panel blowout earlier this year that led to a massive safety scandal.

“On certain models of the 737, apparent manufacturing defects have led to numerous concerning or dangerous incidents, some of which occurred in-air,” the office’s press release read.

As a part of the newly launched investigation, Paxton is requesting “a variety of documents relevant to manufacturing defects” from Spirit.

“The company must release documents related to its diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’) commitments and whether those commitments are unlawful or are compromising the company’s manufacturing processes,” the AG’s office stated.

The AG’s Request to Examine letter demands that Spirit produce various documents, including the company’s communications with investors and Boeing regarding the “Mis-Drilled Aft Pressure Bulkhead Holes Defect in Spirit’s products.”

The company also must turn over meeting notes concerning its “Global Diversity & Inclusion Council(s)” and documents it uses to “substantiate its claim that a diverse workplace improves product quality and/or ‘enhance[s] performance’ and/or ‘helps [Spirit] … make better decisions.’

Paxton also requested the personnel file for Joshua Dean, the first whistleblower to sound the alarm on Spirit’s alleged quality control issues. Dean was fired last year for allegedly failing to conduct inspections, the Seattle Times reported. The AG is seeking information and documents concerning Dean’s termination.

Paxton said, “The potential risks associated with certain airplane models are deeply concerning and potentially life-threatening to Texans.”

“I will hold any company responsible if they fail to maintain the standards required by the law and will do everything in my power to ensure manufacturers take passenger safety seriously,” he noted.

As a result of Boeing’s safety scandal following the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 incident in January, the company announced a management shake-up. In February, Boeing removed Ed Clark, the head of its 737 Max program. CEO Dave Calhoun will leave the company at the end of the year, Boeing announced in March. At the same time, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal announced his immediate retirement. Larry Kellner, board chairman, is set to resign and not seek re-election in May.

The National Transportation Safety Board told the Senate Commerce Committee in March that Boeing was “unable to find records” for repairs made to the airplane that experienced the mid-flight panel blowout. The aircraft underwent rivet repairs before it was delivered to Alaska Airlines. Spirit reportedly conducted the repairs, which required the door panel to be temporarily removed and reinstalled upon completion. The agency’s preliminary report found that the door panel was missing all four bolts designed to hold it in place.

Spirit did not respond to a request for comment from Fox Business.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Boeing CEO, top executives to step down amid safety scandal



Boeing announced that CEO Dave Calhoun and other top executives will step down as part of a management shake-up prompted by safety and quality concerns over a mid-flight door panel blowout earlier this year, CNBC News reported.

Calhoun told Boeing employees on Monday that he would leave the company at the end of 2024.

"As you all know, the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident was a watershed moment for Boeing," Calhoun wrote. "We must continue to respond to this accident with humility and complete transparency. We also must inculcate a total commitment to safety and quality at every level of our company."

"The eyes of the world are on us, and I know we will come through this moment a better company, building on all the learnings we accumulated as we worked together to rebuild Boeing over the last number of years," Calhoun added.

He told CNBC that the decision to step down was "100%" his own.

Calhoun took over the position in January 2020 after two plane crashes — one in 2018 and another in 2019 — prompted the company's board to fire his predecessor, Dennis A. Muilenburg. The crashes, which killed all on board, were caused by issues with the planes' flight stabilization feature.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal also retired from the company, effective immediately, amid the management overhaul. He has been replaced by Stephanie Pope, Boeing's chief operating officer.

Additionally, the chairman of the board, Larry Kellner, will resign and not seek reelection in May. Steve Mollenkopf, a Boeing director, will replace Kellner and lead the board in selecting a new CEO.

In February, Deal told NBC News that the manufacturer had removed Ed Clark, the head of its 737 Max program. Clark managed Boeing's Renton, Washington, facility where the assembly of the Alaska Airlines plane involved in the January mid-flight panel blowout was assembled. At the time, Deal called the management reshuffling part of Boeing's "enhanced focus on ensuring that every airplane we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements."

The National Transportation Safety Board informed the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this month that Boeing is "unable to find records" for repairs made to the airplane that experienced the panel blowout. Before delivering the aircraft to Alaska Airlines, the plane underwent rivet repairs, which required the door panel to be temporarily removed.

"To date, we still do not know who performed the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug on the accident aircraft," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy wrote in a letter to senators. "Boeing has informed us that they are unable to find the records documenting this work."

Boeing has repeatedly stated that it is cooperating with the NTSB's investigation into the incident.

"With respect to documentation, if the door plug removal was undocumented there would be no documentation to share," Boeing said.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Boeing is ‘unable to find records’ for repairs made to Alaska Airlines plane — security footage ‘overwritten’: NTSB



Boeing is “unable to find records” for the repairs made to the Alaska Airlines plane that experienced a mid-flight exit door panel blowout earlier this year, the National Transportation Safety Board told the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday, the New York Post reported.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy wrote a letter to Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) confirming that Boeing had failed to provide documentation for the September work to the aircraft, which involved removing and reinstalling the door plug to perform rivet repairs.

“To date, we still do not know who performed the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug on the accident aircraft,” Homendy wrote. “Boeing has informed us that they are unable to find the records documenting this work.”

In addition to failing to provide records of the repairs, the airplane manufacturer also says that the security camera footage from its facility in Renton, Washington, where the rivet work took place, has been erased, according to the NTSB.

“A verbal request was made by our investigators for security camera footage to help obtain this information; however, they were informed the footage was overwritten,” Homendy added.

Homendy explained that the NTSB has been unable to speak with the facility’s door crew manager because, at the advice of his attorney, he cannot provide a statement “due to medical issues.” She noted that the lack of records and security footage would further complicate the government agency’s investigation into the incident.

“Boeing gave NTSB names of individuals who may provide insight regarding the work performed to open, reinstall, and close the door plug in September 2023,” she noted.

Homendy stated that she called Boeing Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun to request the names of all the employees who performed the door plug work.

“He stated he was unable to provide that information and maintained that Boeing has no records of the work being performed,” her letter to the senators read.

Boeing said in a statement last week that it has cooperated with the NTSB’s requests for information regarding the ongoing investigation. The company also implied that it lacked documentation for the September repair work.

“With respect to documentation, if the door plug removal was undocumented there would be no documentation to share,” Boeing stated.

Repair records must be retained in the event documentation needs to be provided to auditors and investigators, according to regulatory requirements.

The NTSB’s preliminary report revealed that the exit door plug may have been missing all four bolts that secured it in place before the aircraft was delivered to Alaska Airlines.

“I have become increasingly concerned that the focus on the names of individual front-line workers will negatively impact our investigation and discourage such Boeing employees from providing NTSB with information relevant to this investigation,” Homendy told the senators, noting that the agency is not seeking the names of the employees for punitive purposes.

Boeing explained that the security footage that captured the repair work was overwritten because the facility’s camera systems maintain footage on a rolling 30-day basis.

“We will continue supporting this investigation in the transparent and proactive fashion we have supported all regulatory inquiries into this accident. We have worked hard to honor the rules about the release of investigative information in an environment of intense interest from our employees, customers, and other stakeholders, and we will continue our efforts to do so,” Boeing said in a statement, the Post reported.

The Alaska Airlines plane that experienced the panel blowout, which forced the pilots to make an emergency landing, was scheduled for maintenance later that same evening, according to the New York Times.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Biden Official Admits Devastating Controlled Burn Of Derailed East Palestine Train Cars Wasn’t Necessary

'It was stabilized well, well before the vent and burn'