Boeing whistleblower claims there is a 'criminal coverup' over the 737 Max blowout
https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-whistleblower-alleges-criminal-coverup-over-737-max-blowout-2024-4
A Boeing whistleblower said there is a "criminal coverup" surrounding January's Alaska Airlines blowout.
Ed Pierson was one of four people who testified Wednesday in front of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Pierson was a senior manager at Boeing's 737 factory and retired in 2018, before the first Max 8 crash.
He has consistently raised concerns that the narrowbody jet is unsafe and says he once got off a 737 Max before it took off when he realized which plane model he had boarded.
Pierson's testimony on Wednesday included a significant fresh allegation about the Alaska Airlines blowout investigation. "I'm not gonna sugarcoat this, this is a criminal coverup," he said.
After a 737 Max 9 lost its door plug in midair leaving a gaping hole in the fuselage the National Transportation Safety Board said key bolts designed to secure it were missing.
The NTSB said the door plug had been removed in Boeing's factory to fix some broken rivets, but the planemaker told investigators it didn't have documentation of this work.
"With respect to documentation, if the door plug removal was undocumented there would be no documentation to share," Boeing said in a statement last month.
But Pierson said on Wednesday: "Records do in fact exist. I know this because I personally passed them to the FBI."
uh oh