Hearings to be held on Boeing 737 MAX 9’s door panel blowout incident

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) — The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will hold hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, D.C., presenting evidence and witness testimony related to the Alaska Airlines mid-air door panel blowout of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 on Jan. 5 over Portland, the U.S. state of Oregon.
Workers at Boeing’s Renton factory failed to properly secure that fuselage piece, the NTSB investigators found.
The fuselage piece blew out of the Alaska flight with 171 passengers and 6 crew members aboard. Eight people had minor injuries, according to the NTSB.
The two-day hearings will include witnesses from Boeing, its supplier Spirit AeroSystems, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The FAA once grounded approximately 171 Boeing 737-9 MAX planes following the Alaska Airlines door panel blowout incident. ■