Investigation into Blowout of Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max Plane
A panel from a blown-out Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max plane was recently shown to the media at the National Transportation Safety Board laboratory in Washington, D.C. This panel will play a crucial role in the investigative hearings scheduled for next week, following an in-flight explosion on Jan. 5 that occurred while the plane was climbing toward cruising altitude. The incident took place at 16,000 feet and the debris was later recovered in the backyard of a home near Portland, Oregon.
Missing Bolts and Door Stoppers
According to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, investigators discovered that four bolts used to secure parts on the jetliner were missing when the plane left the Boeing factory in Seattle before being delivered to Alaska Airlines. These missing bolts are significant in understanding the sequence of events that led to the blowout.
Door stoppers, which are panels that seal the holes left by additional doors when the number of seats does not require more emergency evacuation exits, were also identified as part of the investigation. Despite appearing like regular windows from inside the plane, these panels are only opened for maintenance and inspection purposes. The panel in question, installed at the Spirit AeroSystems plant in Wichita, Kansas, was later removed at the Boeing plant for repairs on damaged rivets.
Continuing Investigation and Safety Recommendations
The National Transportation Safety Board will utilize the information gathered during the investigative hearings to complete their probe into the blowout of the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max plane. The ultimate goal is to make safety recommendations based on the findings to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Transition words such as “following”, “according to”, and “despite” have been used to help seamlessly connect the various parts of the investigation into the blowout of the plane. The ongoing efforts by the National Transportation Safety Board underscore the importance of thorough investigations in maintaining air travel safety.
