US Safety Board to Hold Hearings on Boeing 737 MAX Door Incident

The fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was forced to make an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage, is seen during its investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Portland, Ore., on Jan. 7, 2024. NTSB/Handout via Reuters

WASHINGTON—The National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday it had scheduled 20 hours of hearings over two days on the January Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 in-flight door plug emergency and would review oversight by U.S. safety regulators.

The NTSB said on its website the Aug. 6–7 hearings are set to last 10 hours each day and would focus on Boeing 737 MAX manufacturing and inspections, FAA oversight of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems and events surrounding the removal of the door plug in 2023. The hearing would also review safety management and quality management systems.