Boeing has been the topic of a federal investigation ever since January, when an Alaska Airlines flight involving certainly one of its planes had its door blown out. Since then, considerations concerning the security of Boeing’s manufacturing course of have swirled and investigators have sought to decide simply how such a factor occurred.
This week, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, instructed senators that the company’s investigation into the troubled flight was having issue as a result of Boeing had not retained the form of documentation mandatory to perceive how the door had malfunctioned.
“To date, we still do not know who performed the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug on the accident aircraft,” Homendy wrote in a letter to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. “Boeing has informed us that they are unable to find the records documenting this work. A verbal request was made by our investigators for security camera footage to help obtain this information; however, they were informed the footage was overwritten. The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB’s investigation moving forward.”
When reached for remark by Gizmodo, a Boeing official mentioned that video recordings had been solely “maintained on a rolling 30-day basis” and that after that they had been overwritten. In this case, the airplane in query was repaired someday prior to October 31, which is the date when it was delivered to Alaska Airlines to be used. The airplane’s troubled flight occurred on January 5, some two-ish months later, which might’ve put it outdoors the 30 day window.
Boeing’s disaster continues to escalate
In addition to the very actual issues with its plane, Boeing has an entire different, weirder drawback on its palms, within the type of John Barnett. A former company whistleblower, Barnett was discovered useless final week at a motel in South Carolina. While the native coroner’s workplace has mentioned that Barnett’s loss of life seems to have occurred as the results of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the odd circumstances round his loss of life have shortly spawned conspiracy theories, spurring a broader public relations disaster for the corporate.
For one factor, Barnett was concerned in a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit in opposition to Boeing on the time of his loss of life and was in the course of conducting depositions when he died. He was scheduled to seem in courtroom for yet one more deposition when motel employees discovered him useless in his truck.
Since then, individuals who say they knew or labored with Barnett have claimed they’ve doubts about his loss of life being a suicide. A girl who says she is a “family friend” of the whistleblower claims Barnett as soon as instructed her “If anything happens to me, it’s not suicide.” Meanwhile, workers who work on the plant the place Barnett was beforehand employed have expressed doubt that he killed himself. Staff on the motel the place Barnett was staying on the time of his loss of life have mentioned that he “did not seem upset at all” on the night earlier than he died.
Barnett’s attorneys have equally mentioned that they need “more information” about what occurred to their shopper. They mentioned Barnett was “in good spirits” within the days earlier than his loss of life and that “no one can believe” that he killed himself.
That mentioned, Barnett’s circle of relatives have blamed Boeing for his loss of life, albeit in a really completely different approach than on-line conspiracy theorists: “He was suffering from PTSD and anxiety attacks as a result of being subjected to the hostile work environment at Boeing which we believe led to his death,” reads a press release launched by relations, together with Barnett’s brother.
Boeing has responded to the continuing hypothesis and outcry about Barnett’s loss of life with a easy assertion: “We are saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”