NTSB Releases Final Report on Alaska Door Plug Blowout
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A Quick Recap
On January 5th, 2024, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport (PDX/KPDX), bound for Ontario, California (ONT/KONT). Approximately 6 and a half minutes after takeoff, the 737 MAX 9 suffered an explosive decompression when the door plug (which is a panel used to fill the space that could become an emergency exit in a different aircraft configuration) blew off the plane. Thankfully, nobody was seated in 26A, which was right against the door plug. The flight returned to PDX, where 8 passengers received medical treatment. Nobody was seriously injured or killed.
The 737 MAX’s Tarnished Reputation & Aftermath
The 737 MAX and Boeing at large have a less than stellar reputation. The high profile 737 MAX 8 crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, attributed to faulty anti-stall systems, had public trust in the plane at a record low. A January 2020 Florida Institute of Technology poll showed that 61.5% would not fly onboard a 737 MAX aircraft of any type. This is a really big deal. For decades, Boeing has been one of America’s most trusted and prominent companies. To have this amount of distrust in their product really says a lot.
In the wake of the door plug blowout, it became a major media story around the world. Just hours after the incident, Alaska Airlines grounded their 65-strong 737 MAX 9 fleet, and the following day, the FAA released an Emergency Airworthiness Directive grounding all 737 MAX 9s with mid-cabin door plug installed, pending inspections. Airlines around the world, including Turkish Airlines, Copa, and Lion Air also grounded their fleets of MAX 9s, although their governments never officially required them to.
On January 21st, the FAA expanded their recommendation for inspection to 737-900ERs with the same door plug installed. The FAA noted that, in the 11 million hours the 739s had flown for, there had never been any issue with door plugs, but the move was made out of an abundance of caution.
After the accident, the NTSB began an investigation. The door plug was discovered in a suburban Portland back yard, and subsequently forensically analyzed by NTSB experts. The Department of Justice and FBI also launched their own criminal investigations into the incident as they believed misconduct at Boeing may have been involved.
As the 737-900ERs and MAX 9s were inspected, new troubling facts emerged. United Airlines stated that they found loose door plug bolts on an undisclosed number of aircraft, and Alaska found them on “many.”
On January 9th, Boeing’s president and CEO, Dave Calhoun described the incident as a “quality control issue.” He acknowledged that the company made a mistake in a shareholder meeting.
The Final Report
On July 10th, 2025, the NTSB released their final report on the incident. In the report’s Probale Cause section, the NTSB does not hold back.
“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the in-flight separation of the left mid exit door (MED) plug due to Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ failure to provide adequate training, guidance, and oversight necessary to ensure that manufacturing personnel could consistently and correctly comply with its parts removal process, which was intended to document and ensure that the securing bolts and hardware that were removed from the left MED plug to facilitate rework during the manufacturing process were reinstalled.”
The NTSB also faulted the FAA for:
“ineffective compliance enforcement,” which failed to identify and correct “repetitive and systemic nonconformance issues associated with [Boeing’s] parts removal process.”
The NTSB doesn’t have the power to officially make policy changes, but they do create recommendation which the proper authorities basically always follow. As written by Zach Vasile of AirlineGeeks.com:
“The NTSB recommended that the FAA revise its auditing and compliance enforcement processes, better train inspectors to recognize systemic nonconformance, and extend the period for retaining audit records. It also suggested the creation of an “independent panel to conduct a comprehensive review” of Boeing’s “safety culture.” The results from that review would then be used to inform the company’s regulatory safety program, the report said.”
Sources
https://airlinegeeks.com/2025/07/10/ntsb-releases-final-report-on-alaska-door-plug-blowout/