The families of crash victims wonder why it’s taken so long
Boeing and Alaska Airlines Will Change Their Corporate Culture After the Jan. 5 Max 9 Jet Accidents: Pegram, Clifford, and Cassell
People who were aboard a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet whose door plug was explosively expelled after departing an airport in Portland, Ore., in January are being contacted by the FBI about a criminal investigation.
“We’ve known it for five years, and I think the rest of the world is finally waking up to it, that these weren’t just isolated incidents,” Mark Pegram said.
The lawyers for the crash victims believe that Boeing has violated the terms of the deal with the DOJ. If federal prosecutors want to extend the settlement, it’s likely they’ll do so without regard to Boeing’s current status.
News emerged earlier this month that the Department of Justice was opening a criminal investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which took off from Portland, Ore., shortly after 5 p.m. PST on Jan. 5, bound for Ontario, Calif.
The door plug on Alaska Airlines flight 1282 blew out in Portland, Ore., two days before the deal between Boeing and the DOJ was set to expire. Lawyers who are involved in the crash victims’ families say timing is very important.
The families are “optimistic” that the DOJ will be “more strict with how they look at this new criminal investigation from the Alaska Airlines case,” said Robert Clifford, a lawyer in Chicago whose firm represents families of victims from the Max 8 crashes, as well as passengers on board Alaska Airlines 1282 when the door plug blew out.
No one was seriously injured in the most recent incident. But Clifford says the Justice Department has begun sending letters to those passengers informing them that they might be victims of a crime.
“I’ve seen letters to clients,” he said. He says it’s important that the Justice Department did something after the Max 8 crashes.
There is change that needs to happen. There’s no doubt about it. The chief financial officer of Boeing said at an investor conference this week that they are going to do so diligently. “We won’t rush or go too fast.”
“Boeing promised to change its corporate culture in order to make safety a higher priority,” said Paul Cassell, a professor at the University of Utah College of Law. None of those promises seem to have been kept.
The families of the Max crash victims are going to have an expert represent them for free. He argues the Justice Department failed to consult with those families before reaching its deal with Boeing.
The families won a legal victory last February, when federal judge Reed O’Connor in Texas found that the Justice Department had violated the victims’ rights. O’Connor didn’t grant the families the right to void the deal.
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“We are all frustrated and angry with each other as family members,” Pegram said, who is a partner in the law firm. “To see that five years on, the culture is still there where production defects are covered up, documentation is inadequate, whistleblowers aren’t being listened to, and there are huge problems there.”
The family is fighting the case so they can get accountability for Boeing’s leaders and also want the company to make safer planes.
“Sam was somebody who fought for justice,” Mark Pegram said. “As you can imagine, it’s not easy to keep giving these interviews. But the reason we do is because we want our family members’ stories to be heard. They’re more than just a number.
The plane climbed above 16,000 feet, but a rapid decompression from losing the large panel terrified passengers and sucked phones and other items out of the gaping hole in the fuselage. The flight returned to the airport and made an emergency landing almost exactly 20 minutes after it took off.
When asked about the investigation and the letters to potential victims on Friday, a spokesperson for the FBI’s office in Seattle told NPR, “Per DOJ policy, the FBI does not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.” The company does not comment according to a representative.
The passengers on the flight were told in a message that the FBI could be reached through an email address set up for them, which Mark Lindquist, an attorney representing passengers, shared with NPR.
The FBI’s Seattle division has identified you as a potential victim of a crime, so I’m writing to you.
The Boeing Door Plug Case Against Alaska Airlines: A New Flight Control System Destroyed by an Old Boeing Failed Jet, as Perported by Huy Tran
Two groups of passengers have filed lawsuits against Boeing and Alaska Airlines for their failure. Plaintiffs in one lawsuit include Huy Tran, who was seated one row behind the door plug.
“It’s not like when somebody bumps your car on the freeway,” Huy recently told Portland TV station KPTV. “It’s like you’re almost dead”, “it’s like you’re almost dead”
The bolts that were meant to keep the door plug from sliding upward are missing, according to the report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The debacle is the latest black eye for Boeing, whose reputation was already tarnished by deadly crashes of its 737 Max 8 jets in 2018 and 2019. The Max 8 is 9 feet shorter than the Max 9.
“Federal prosecutors say key Boeing employees ‘deceived the FAA,’ misleading the safety regulators about a new flight control system on the 737 Max called MCAS,” as NPR reported in January of 2021.
The deferred prosecution agreement was supposed to be up for renewal in three years. If the DOJ discovers that Boeing failed to fulfill its obligations, the Fraud Section can extend its scrutiny for up to an additional year.
