Alaska incident: Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun breaks silence, says it's 'our mistake’

United and Alaska Airlines both reported on January 8 that loose hardware had been discovered on some of their Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes during preliminary inspections after a dramatic mid-flight incident last week (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP)

Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun has acknowledged that the recent 737 Max 9 plane tragedy was their “mistake” and stressed that an accident like this “can never happen again.”

“We’re going to approach this number one acknowledging our mistake,” Calhoun told employees at a safety meeting after the incident, according to Reuters. “We’re going to approach it with 100 percent and complete transparency every step of the way.”

Calhoun also said that he was “shaken to the bone” by the accident. His comments were Boeing’s first public acknowledgment of the incident.

The company’s top planemaking official, Stan Deal, also broke his silence, saying at a town hall meeting at its Renton, Washington 737 factory that Boeing acknowledges “the real seriousness of the accident.” Inspections were launched after the incident.

Loose bolts found

Meanwhile, United Airlines has said that loose bolts were found on door plugs of several Boeing 737 Max 9 planes during inspections after a panel blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight. Dozens of 737 Max 9s were grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday, January 6, after the horrific incident on Alaska Flight 1282. This prompted various inspections.

“Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug — for example, bolts that needed additional tightening,” United Airlines said in a statement, according to CNBC. “These findings will be remedied by our Tech Ops team to safely return the aircraft to service.”

Boeing had earlier asked airlines to carry out inspections of the Max 9s in their fleets. “We are committed to ensuring every Boeing airplane meets design specifications and the highest safety and quality standards,” Boeing said in a statement. “We regret the impact this has had on our customers and their passengers.”

No one was seriously injured in the recent accident. However, the panel that blew out produced such a terrific force that a few headrests and seat backs were ripped from the cabin. The cockpit door was also violently flung open, initial details of a federal safety investigation suggested. Thankfully, no passenger sat in the two seats located next to the panel that would later blow out.

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