The NTSB said the door plug was opened at Boeing’s Renton factory so a team from supplier Spirit AeroSystems of Wichita, Kan., could repair damaged rivets adjacent to the door plug on the 737 MAX 9 jet.
The fix required removal of insulation and interior panels at that location and the opening of the door plug. After the rivets were repaired, a Boeing team worked to restore the interior.
Federal regulations require that every manufacturing job that goes into assembly of an airplane be documented. And critical tasks have to be signed off by quality inspectors.
A month after the blowout, though, Boeing has not provided the NTSB with documentation about who opened and re-closed the door plug, how exactly it was done and with what authorization.
Read it all (my emphasis).
A Boeing 737 MAX 9 was missing key bolts when it was delivered to Alaska Airlines, the National Transportation Safety Board says in a preliminary report on Flight 1282's blowout over Portland. https://t.co/1ygq2zDdmg
— The Seattle Times (@seattletimes) February 7, 2024