Boeing sanctioned by NTSB for releasing details of Alaska Airlines door blowout investigation

Boeing is being sanctioned by the National Transportation Safety Board after breaking an agreement by disclosing non-public details of the agency’s investigation into the Alaska Airlines mid-air door panel blowout. 

The NTSB on Thursday said that a Boeing executive, who wasn’t identified, disclosed non-public information from the investigation during a media briefing on Tuesday, and gave an analysis of some facts that had previously been released. It noted that both actions are prohibited according to an agreement that Boeing had signed that provided the aircraft maker with party status to the investigation.

“As a party to many NTSB investigations over the past decades, few entities know the rules better than Boeing,” the NTSB said in its statement. 

The investigation relates to the January 5 incident when Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which was carrying 174 passengers and six crew members on a Boeing 737 Max 9, suffered a mid-air blowout of a door panel just minutes after the flight left from Portland, Oregon.

The agency said that Boeing will no longer have access to the investigative information that it produces during its probe, and that the NTSB will also subpoena the company to appear at an investigative hearing from August 6-7 in Washington D.C. 

“Unlike the other parties in the hearing, Boeing will not be allowed to ask questions of other participants,” the NTSB said.