Unhooking a Boeing door: passengers may be victims of a crime

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A US Transportation Safety Agency inspector observes the panel torn off the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9.

Agence France-Presse

Passengers on board a Boeing whose door came loose in mid-flight may have been victims of a crime, according to the FBI, American media reported on Friday.

At the beginning of March, the Department of Justice had already announced that it was opening a criminal investigation into this spectacular event that occurred on January 5, when a cork door (a metal panel placed in a location capable of x27;to accommodate a door) broke away from the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines plane.

No one was seriously injured, but the 737 MAX 9 had to make an emergency landing. The images of the terrified passengers, sitting next to the gaping hole in mid-flight, went around the world.

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Investigators from the The US Transportation Safety Agency was able to recover the panel that came off the fuselage of Alaska Airlines' Boeing 737-9 MAX, but no bolt had yet been found as of January 9, 2024. (File photo)

The passengers recently received a letter from the FBI, which is investigating the matter, according to the Seattle Times.

I am contacting you because we have identified you as a possible victim of a crime, writes an American federal police agent in this document.

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A criminal investigation can be a lengthy undertaking and, for several reasons, we cannot inform you of its development at the moment, he adds.

Several bolts supposed to block the door caps were missing, according to the US Transportation Safety Agency (NTSB), which blamed Boeing.

Open in full screen mode< p class="StyledImageCaptionLegend-sc-57496c44-2 sbxsP">Jennifer Homendy, President of the US Transportation Safety Agency (Archive photo)

The aircraft manufacturer was notably criticized for the slowness of its cooperation with the authorities.

In early March, the NTSB explained that it had not received certain important documents, and that the company had not ;#x27;had still not provided the names of the employees who worked on the part in question.

It is absurd that two months later, we do not have this information, denounced the president of the NTSB, Jennifer Homendy, to American parliamentarians.