Investigator says she asked Boeing’s CEO who handled panel that blew off a jet. He couldn’t help her

The nation’s chief accident investigator said Wednesday that her agency still does not know who worked on the panel that blew up a jetliner in January and that Boeing’s CEO told her he could not provide the information because the company did not have data on it. has the job. .

“The lack of this data will complicate the NTSB’s investigation in the future,” National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jennifer Homendy wrote in a letter to a Senate committee investigating the Jan. 5 accident involving a Boeing 737 Max 9 from Alaska Airlines.

Boeing promised in a short statement, as it often does, to support the investigation.

Homendy told senators last week that the NTSB asked Boeing for security camera footage that could help identify who worked on the panel in September, but was told the video was overwritten after 30 days — months before the eruption.

Boeing said Wednesday that it is the company’s standard practice to delete video footage after 30 days.

Homendy’s latest letter to the Senate Commerce Committee followed her appearance before the panel last week. Shortly after her testimony ended, Boeing provided the names of 25 employees who work on the doors at the company’s 737 factory near Seattle.

However, she said the company still has not said which of the employees removed the panel, which closes a gap left when additional emergency doors are not needed on a plane. She said she even called Boeing CEO David Calhoun.

“He stated that he could not provide that information and claimed that Boeing has no records of the work performed,” Homendy wrote. Boeing did not comment on the phone call.

There is a downside to the NTSB’s focus on identifying specific employees, Homendy admitted. She worried that this could discourage people from talking to investigators about the case, so she told her staff to protect the identities of Boeing employees who come forward.