Boeing has been the subject of a federal investigation since January, when an Alaska Airlines plane involved a Boeing its door was blown off. Since then, concerns have grown about the safety of Boeing’s production processes, and investigators have been trying to determine how something like this could have happened.
This week, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jennifer Homendy tell the senator The agency’s investigation into the troubled flight has run into difficulties because Boeing did not retain documents needed to understand how the door malfunctioned.
“To date, we still do not know who performed the work of opening, reinstalling and closing the door jams on the accident aircraft,” Homendy wrote in a statement. letter Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. “Boeing informed us that they were unable to locate records documenting this effort. Our investigators made a verbal request for security camera footage to help obtain this information; however, they were told the footage had been overwritten. The lack of these records would make the NTSB’s The investigation has become more complex.”
When Gizmodo reached a Boeing official for comment, he said the video recordings are only kept “on a rolling basis for 30 days” before being overwritten. In this case, the aircraft in question underwent maintenance sometime before October 31, the date it was delivered to Alaska Airlines for use. The plane’s flight problems occurred about two months later on January 5, well beyond the 30-day deadline.
Boeing crisis continues to escalate
In addition to the very real problems facing the aircraft, Boeing faced another, stranger problem, and that was John Barnett.former corporate whistleblower barnett Found dead last week In a motel in South Carolina. While the local coroner’s office said Barnett’s death appeared to be due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the strange circumstances surrounding his death quickly spawned conspiracy theories and sparked a broader public relations crisis for the company.
For one thing, Barnett was involved in a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against Boeing at the time of his death and was taking a deposition at the time of his death. He was scheduled to testify again when motel staff found him dead in his truck.
Since then, those who say they knew or worked with Barnett say they question whether his death was a suicide.A woman who claimed to be a “family friend” of the whistleblower claims Barnett once told her “If something happens to me, it’s not suicide.” Meanwhile, employees at the factory where Barnett was previously employed have express doubt He committed suicide.Staff at the motel where Barnett was staying when he died once told him The night before he died, he “didn’t look sad at all.”
Barnett’s attorney made a similar statement explain They want “more information” about what’s going on with their customers. They said Barnett was “in good spirits” in the days before his death and “no one believed” he had committed suicide.
That said, Barnett’s family blames Boeing for his death, albeit in a very different way than online conspiracy theorists do: “He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety as a result of being exposed to Boeing’s hostile work environment , which we believe led to his death.” Until his death,” read Statement from the familyincluding Barnett’s brother.
Boeing responded to the ongoing speculation and outcry over Barnett’s death with a simple statement: “We are saddened by the passing of Mr. Barnett and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”