The National Transportation Safety Board recently issued findings from its investigation into the door plug incident. The NTSB said in June that “the probable cause of this accident was the in-flight separation of the left MED [mid exit door] plug due to Boeing’s failure to provide adequate training, guidance, and oversight necessary to ensure that manufacturing personnel could consistently and correctly comply with its parts removal process.” The NTSB also said the FAA’s compliance and enforcement systems “were inadequate to identify repetitive and systemic discrepancies and nonconformance issues” at Boeing.
The NTSB last year said that four bolts were missing from the Boeing 737 Max 9 when it left the factory. The plane used by Alaska Airlines was forced to make an emergency landing when the door plug blew off the aircraft in mid-flight.
Boeing avoids prosecution in fraud case
Separately, Boeing in July 2024 agreed to plead guilty to a criminal charge of defrauding the FAA and pay a $243.6 million fine for violating a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the government. However, the Boeing plea deal was rejected by a federal judge in December 2024.
The 2021 deferred prosecution agreement was spurred by 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed a combined 346 people. In May 2024, the Justice Department said it determined that Boeing violated the deferred prosecution agreement “by failing to design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the US fraud laws throughout its operations.”
With the Trump administration reconsidering Biden-era decisions, Boeing reportedly asked the government for more lenient treatment. In May, the DOJ announced a deal with Boeing in which the company would avoid prosecution. The non-prosecution agreement says Boeing must pay the $243.6 million fine and invest at least $455 million in its compliance and safety programs, the same terms agreed to during the Biden administration.
Although Boeing “had inadequate anti-fraud controls and an inadequate antifraud compliance program,” it took steps “to enhance its compliance program through structural and leadership changes, including but not limited to steps to enhance the independence, capability, and effectiveness of its compliance program,” the agreement said.
The government moved to dismiss the case based on the agreement. The motion is still pending, and families of the crash victims urged the court to reject it.
