By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting a new round of interviews this week with employees of Boeing (NYSE:) and the Federal Aviation Administration as part of its investigation into the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 accident in January.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said Wednesday that investigators would be back at the 737 plant in Renton, Washington, this week for further interviews.
“We are looking at other cases where a door jam was opened and closed to make sure those records are available,” Homendy told a U.S. Senate hearing, saying investigators wanted to make sure those other cases were documented .
Boeing, whose shares fell 2% on Wednesday, declined to comment on interviews.
Last month, Boeing said it believed necessary documents detailing the removal of the door plug on the Alaska Airlines plane involved in the emergency were never created.
Homendy said Wednesday that Boeing and investigators still do not know the personnel who worked on the Alaska Boeing 737 MAX 9 that was affected by the emergency. “This work took place in September. They move a lot of aircraft through this factory,” Homendy said. “The biggest concern is missing records.”
It’s about the process, not the individuals, she said. “This is not a problem for anyone,” Homendy said, adding that the NTSB was still unable to interview the door-plug team manager, who was on sick leave.
Shortly after the plane took off from Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 5, the Alaska Airlines plane’s door plug panel was torn off.
Homendy said investigators would also look into the plane maker’s safety culture. She said the NTSB could conduct a survey of Boeing’s safety culture.
Homendy said the aircraft manufacturer is working well with the NTSB and providing the requested documents. Boeing wants to understand what went wrong: “They want to know and fix it,” Homendy said.
After the incident, the FAA grounded the MAX 9 for several weeks, barred Boeing from increasing MAX production and required the company to fix systemic quality control problems within 90 days after an audit found flaws in the company’s manufacturing processes.
The NTSB previously said four key bolts were missing from the blown door stopper.
The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into the emergency.
Homendy in March criticized Boeing’s lack of cooperation and failure to disclose some documents, including the opening and closing of the door stopper and the names of 25 door crew workers in Renton. After Homendy’s comments, Boeing announced the 25 names and the plane maker said it was cooperating.
The NTSB plans to hold a public investigative hearing on the Alaska Airlines incident on August 6th and 7th.
Homendy said the hearing will include testimony from employees of Boeing and fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:), as well as other companies such as Alaska Airlines.