Senate investigation finds ‘troubling and recurring’ safety failures at Boeing

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a memo Wednesday that includes new details about Boeing’s safety failures related to the Alaska Airlines door shutter incident in January.

The memo — released ahead of Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Whitaker’s scheduled testimony before the subcommittee on Wednesday — suggested that Boeing had failed to ensure adequate standards in several areas.

Boeing employees, according to the memo, “continue to feel pressure to prioritize production speed over quality.”

The January 5 incident on Alaska Airlines caused a door plug on Flight 1282 to explode minutes after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, leaving a large hole in the side of the Boeing 737 Max 9. The plane made a safe emergency landing and no one was seriously injured.

The memo reported the results of a May 2024 employee survey that found only 47% of workers responded positively to the statement: “Schedule pressures do not cause my team to lower their standards.”

Training also remains a problem, the memo said. “Boeing fails to ensure many of its employees have the appropriate education, training, skills or experience to effectively perform their assigned duties,” the memo said.

The subcommittee said Boeing failed to ensure that nonconforming parts were properly documented, stored and disposed of so they were not installed on planes.

Quality inspection procedures – and the FAA’s review of those procedures – also raised questions about the inspectors’ qualifications and independence, the memo said.

“Boeing personnel are authorized to inspect the quality of their own work,” it reads.

MORE: NTSB to hold investigative hearing into Alaska Airlines door stopper incident

“These troubling and recurring safety deficiencies raise questions about the FAA’s ability to oversee the quality and safety of Boeing airplanes through effective and sustained enforcement,” the memo said.

Wednesday’s memo and Whitaker’s testimony are part of a broader investigation that began March 19, probing Boeing’s safety practices and culture following allegations from whistleblowers.

ABC News’ Ayesha Ali and Clara McMicheal contributed to this report.

Senate investigation finds ‘troubling and recurring’ safety failures at Boeing