Attorney: Boeing 737 Max 9 ‘was a ticking bomb’
Feb 7, 2024, 9:50 AM | Updated: 3:31 pm
An amended lawsuit was filed on Wednesday against Boeing and Alaska Airlines on behalf of 22 Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 passengers.
A Boeing 737 Max 9 plane was flying from Portland, Oregon, to California on January 5 when a door plug blew out of the fuselage, and the plane rapidly depressurized.
Attorney Mark Lindquist initially filed a lawsuit on January 16 alleging emotional and physical injuries to passengers, including severe stress, anxiety, trauma, and hearing damage. The Amended Complaint adds new passengers and new allegations of negligence by Boeing and Alaska Airlines.
“This plane was a ticking bomb,” Lindquist said in a press release from his office. “A blowout could have happened at a cruising altitude where it would have been catastrophic.”
NTSB: Bolts on Boeing jetliner were missing before a panel blew out midflight
A new National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary report found Boeing delivered the plane to Alaska Airlines with four retaining bolts missing, which resulted in the eventual door plug blowout.
“Boeing is still cutting corners on quality,” Lindquist said in the release. “The company is cutting so many corners, they’re going in circles.”
New allegations include a claim, “there was a whistling sound coming from the vicinity of the door plug on a previous flight of the subject plane. Passengers apparently noticed the whistling sound and brought it to the attention of flight attendants who reportedly informed the pilot or first officer.”
No known further action was taken, “After the pilot checked cockpit instruments, which purportedly read normal.”
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Additionally, an earlier NTSB report found the cockpit door was designed to blow out in a depressurization situation. Pilots and crew were not informed of this design feature.
“The resulting shock, noise, and communication difficulties contributed to a lack of proper communication between the flight crew and passengers, thereby intensifying confusion and stress,” according to the lawsuit.
The NTSB report found Boeing delivered the plane to Alaska Airlines with four missing retaining bolts, resulting in the eventual door plug blowout.
