Federal officials have briefed a congressional committee on their investigations into a jetliner where a panel blew out in midflight this month, and reported that airlines have inspected 40 identical Boeing planes.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it will review information from those inspections of Boeing 737 Max 9 jets while it develops a maintenance process before letting the planes carry passengers again.
[Earlier Report: FAA to Audit Boeing Production in Aftermath of Door Panel Blow Out]
An Alaska Airlines Max 9 was forced to make an emergency landing on Jan. 5 after a panel called a door plug blew out of the side of the plane shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon.
The NTSB is investigating the accident, while the FAA investigates whether Boeing and its suppliers followed quality-control procedures.
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, and FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker spent two hours briefing members of the Senate Commerce Committee in Washington on Wednesday as questions continue on how the panel of an Alaska Airlines jetliner blew off while traveling 16,000 feet above Oregon.
The officials indicated that their separate investigations of Boeing and the accident are in the early stages.
“Nothing was said about penalties or enforcement, but when there is an end result, I have no doubt but that there will be consequences,” said Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, in an interview after the closed-door session.
Separately, Homendy said her agency will look into how exactly the panel was produced by Spirit AeroSystems and installed on the Alaska Airlines plane. She told reporters after the briefing that the panel was manufactured in Malaysia by Boeing’s leading supplier.
That detail puts more attention on Boeing’s global supply chain.
Alaska and United Airlines, the only other U.S. airline that flies the Max 9, reported finding loose hardware in door plugs of other planes they inspected after the accident. Both airlines have canceled hundreds of flights while their Max 9s are grounded.
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