Many have been shocked to discover the issues surrounding the Beoing after a door blew off a passenger plane while in flight.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary report has discovered that four bolts were missing from the Alaska Airlines door plug before the blowout.
From ABC News:
Boeing records reviewed by the NTSB showed that damaged rivets on the edge frame forward of the plug were replaced by Spirit AeroSystems employees at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, on Sept. 19, 2023, according to the agency’s report. Boeing had to open the plug by removing the two vertical movement arrestor bolts and two upper guide track bolts for the rivets to be replaced, but photo documentation obtained from Boeing showed evidence that the plug was closed with no bolts in three visible locations, according to the NTSB report.
One bolt area is obscured by insulation in the photo, though the NTSB said it was able to determine in its laboratory that that bolt was also not put back on.
In the wake of the accident, other airlines examined their Beoing 737 MAX and also found issues with the door plug.
So how did this happen? A greedy Obama decision.
In 2009, there was a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign to entice the Democrat-controlled House, the Democrat-controlled Senate, and the Obama administration to let Boeing conduct their own plane inspections.
The Obama administration gave the company the go-ahead, allowing the company to decide for itself if a design or production plan was airworthy.
From The Lever:
For the past 15 years, the government has allowed Boeing to conduct its own inspections related to many manufacturing and safety issues — and during that time, government reports, experts, and whistleblowers have issued more than a dozen warnings that the self-inspection program has led to serious production issues and contributed to two fatal crashes.
During much of that period, federal regulators shifted an ever-larger amount of the plane-certification process to Boeing, even as the plane manufacturer cut production corners and pledged to focus on “removing layers that help us be faster.”
Whistleblowers have come forward warning that Boeing’s quality control needs oversight.
After the $26 million lobbying spree Boeings self inspection program was “fully phased in under the direction of President Barack Obama, Boeing and other plane manufacturers were conducting their own regulatory inspections of new planes and granting themselves the ability to approve major repairs and modifications for their aircraft.”
More from The Lever:
In the wake of a multimillion-dollar lobbying blitz, in 2009 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began allowing Boeing to conduct its own plane inspections and determine for itself whether its designs and production work were airworthy.
“The FAA may have some oversight, but they’re completely hands-off,” Aul Hudson, president of FlyersRights, a passenger advocacy group, told The Lever.
There you have it, folks: $26 million, and they let the oversight go. But heaven forbid you want to sell organic food that you harvested from your farm or homestead. The USDA will crack down and take everything you own.
