Boeing’s current regulatory kerfuffle began 21 months ago when Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off in Portland and quickly lost a door plug from the left side of the 737 Max. The Federal Aviation Administration announced a proposed $3.1 million fine against Boeing on Friday for the blowout itself and interference with safety officials’ independence. While the company’s quality control has seen increased scrutiny, repercussions centered on voiding the planemaker’s plea deal after the aircraft’s two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. This fine seems like a drop in the bucket considering that the aviation giant inked a $96 billion deal with Qatar earlier this year.
While a National Transportation Safety Board investigation eventually found that the blowout was caused by four missing bolts, it wasn’t a smooth path to that conclusion. Investigators navigated several obstacles during their search for answers. Boeing failed to provide a list of employees who work on the door plug. The identified door crew manager was on medical leave when the work on the incident’s plane was being done. Not to mention, the agency didn’t have security camera footage to identify employees because of a 30-day auto-delete policy at Boeing. The four missing bolts were never found and were like thrown away.
Boeing pressured safety staff to look the other way
While Boeing will point to the plans to improve its safety culture under FAA oversight, the necessary leeway it has received from the agency is still disconcerting. The FAA doesn’t have a large enough staff to constantly monitor Boeing’s production, so it delegates some certification and safety functions directly to the manufacturer in a program called Organization Designation Authorization. These ODA personnel are still Boeing employees, but are supposed to work independently to enforce FAA regulations. In its proposed fine announcement, the FAA stated:
“Furthermore, the FAA found that a non-ODA Boeing employee pressured a Boeing ODA unit member to sign off on a Boeing 737-MAX airplane so Boeing could meet its delivery schedule, even though the ODA member determined the aircraft did not comply with applicable standards.”
For Boeing’s voided plea deal with the Department of Justice, the planemaker eventually received a non-prosecution deal. Boeing will pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims’ fund on top of the $500 million it doled out in 2021. This is despite the victims’ families pushing the DoJ to take the aviation giant to court. Again, a $3.1 million fine is practically nothing in comparison.
