On Jan. 4 — one day before a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight that was climbing out of Portland, Ore. — engineers and technicians had heard of enough problems that they wanted the aircraft to come out of service for inspection and maintenance, according to a report by the New York Times.
Instead, the airline chose to keep the Boeing 737-9 MAX in service. It did, however, change the schedule so it would not fly over the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii, but the airlines decided to keep it in service for three more flights, before pulling it into a maintenance hangar.
“Before the plane could complete that scheduled sequence of flights and go in for the maintenance check, the door plug blew out at 16,000 feet, minutes after embarking on the second flight of the day, from Portland to Ontario International Airport in California,” the newspaper reported.
In other related news, a whistleblower who raised concerns about sloppy manufacturing at the company’s 787 Dreamliner factory in South Carolina was found dead on Saturday, in what authorities said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
John Barnett, who first filed a complaint with the U.S. Labor Department in 2017 under the AIR21 Whistleblower Protection Program, was in Charleston for a deposition related to his complaints about safety and quality, according to the BBC.
Huh.. so he takes the time and trouble to travel to Charleston to be deposed and yet somehow is so despondent that he shoots himself?
Convenient.
He was a Boeing employee in their North Charleston, S.C. plant.
Very convenient.
A conspiracy lurks around every corner and in every shadow when you’re a MAGA Republican.
I’ve never been a Republican but even as an 18 year old voter in 1972 I knew Democrats were bad people and to not ever vote for one. Today, Democrats are pure evil and are hellbent on destroying America. MAGA has nothing to do with it.
Ah, history. Some people learn it, some ignore it.
Russia, Russia, Russia
Pee tape
Putin will overrun Europe if we don’t find Ukraine.
White Supremacy
Covid will kill us all
Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Republicans will throw grandma off a cliff
Trump will (fill in 30 different blanks) which never happened, from reinstating slavery to declaring a dictatorship
Any Republican since Bush 41 is an illegitimate president due to (reasons vary)
And so, so, so many more.
Biden laptop Russian disinformation.
Almost forgot that one.
This was a murmur in January after event . I thought with what I had read that the issue was purely an Alaska Airlines maintenance problem at that point . So now it looks like it is absolutely an AKAir issue . Wow ! Mainstream media will never pick this up they are in lockstep with WallStreet to pound the Boeing stock down as they clean up shorting the stock .
Terrible as Boeing builds the best aircraft . Thank god they built the B-17 as we’d of lost the European war and the B-29’s that brought Japan to their knees . Japan loves Boeing Aircraft today .
Boeing execs have long been arrogant about their company but since they have so wholeheartedly embraced DEI over meritocracy these last few years, they are apparently approaching the midpoint in their spiral to the bottom. But of course living in a corporatocracy, we aren’t going to have American alternatives to Boeing, so despite their outsourced out-of-country parts manufacture and DEI hires, neither we nor the DOD are likely to abandon them. I guess the arrogance is appropriate.
It’s possible that what it will take to fix this is for another Alaska Airlines jet to go down with complete loss of life to change this “diversity is our strength, maintenance is secondary” culture. It is possible that what would make this more imperative is for employees in addition to aircrew, to be on board. Until something happens to rattle Alaska Airlines’ collective cage, nothing will change. They focus will be on all-female crews, men with 5 o’clock shadows dressed in women’s flight attendant uniforms and other unnecessary distractions. Please, Alaska Airlines, prove me wrong.
It does give one pause. My understanding is that when a company goes “woke” as Alaska Airlines has, the idea is to infuse the concept into the culture from top to bottom in the organization. Thus, everyone, but particularly any new hires, actually believes that diversity, equity and inclusion – and deviancy – are the highest principles that govern the organization. Safety and competence are secondary. I would like to hear the Alaska Airlines CEO address this topic. Where does safety fit in the Alaska Airlines culture? What about excellence? (What about door plug blowouts?) If those are the top priorities, doesn’t that mean – maybe – that “woke” stuff is a bit less important? How does that all work, exactly? Now would be a good time.
I wonder how much help that whistleblower had in inflicting that gunshot wound.
Was Bill and Hillary heavily invested in Ak Airlines ….? Suicide is common amongst potential whistleblowers.
I’d say the CEO of AkAir is toast over this one . He’ll resign in the next day or so if this hits mainstream media ! This is a big story that shows how screwed up the company is and his management style .
This totally explains the purpose of including AK Air in the “frivolous” lawsuit filed by lawyers representing the passengers on the “thank god we made it” flight against Boeing.
I am beginning to see more culpability on the part of AK Air in the decision to procrastinate when it comes to safety checks in lieu of making some quick cash on a few more runs with their “new” planes.
“Everyone say GAY”!!!
Forty years of experience in aviation tells me that there is no singular cause of any incident or accident involving an aircraft. Everyone wants to point fingers for responsibility instead of working on a real solution. And to give the public an illusion of safety within the industry. And of course to dilute the lawsuits. What is needed is an independent, unbiased investigation not by people who have skin in the game, as even the regulatory agencies are in question. Many improvements need to be made to avoid more such incidents. We were lucky that the door blowout didn’t occur even ten minutes later or there may have been loss of lives. As it was, it was like the canary in the mine shaft. Everyone should be very afraid of flying in an environment where politics, public image, and profit take the place of safety. And where CEOs , executives, and even pilots often have no idea about how an airplane works.
Amen!
Trig forty years ago the head of Boeing would have lost his job . The CEO of AKAir would have resigned . And as you mentioned a comedy of errors lead to a crash . However 10 billion passengers have boarded a Boeing jet in ten years with one fatality when General Electric engine on a 737 exploded . Very safe time to fly . However a lot of red flags for future flying , hiring policies , lack of qualified pilots and Poorly inspected airliners . Kind of makes me feel like their is a mindset to undermine the traveling public’s confidence in air travel . Media has a hand in this as well and I suspect WallStreet is using the media to run the stock down .
Yes, there is definitely more at play here than stupid mistakes. Passenger airlines have always been held to a higher standard, however. And always flown the newer equipment. And Boeing builds a great aircraft. So when you see stupid stuff happening on newer equipment like leaving bolts loose on common things like doors, hatches, and even wheels, you wonder where the inspectors are, including the FAA safety inspectors, and who is maintaining these aircraft, which seldom break. If they were aging planes, they would never make it out of the blocks with this type of maintenance.
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