Alaska Airlines will enhance its quality oversight of in-production aircraft at Boeing in Renton. The carrier will deploy additional experienced professionals to validate the assembly and production work on the MAX line, it said in a media statement on January 13.
Traditionally, all airlines have quality inspectors on-site at airframers to check if the production of an individual aircraft is going as planned. The accident with the Alaska MAX 9 on January 5 seems to indicate that the left-hand door plug might have blown out six minutes after take-off from Portland as a result of a production quality and oversight problem. Further investigation by the NTSB of the door plug to be done in Washington should reveal what happened.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
Richard is contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He also writes for Airliner World, Aviation News, Piloot & Vliegtuig, and Luchtvaartnieuws Magazine. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
