ALASKA SCARELINES

DOJ Opens Criminal Probe Into Alaska Airlines Blowout

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the Boeing 737 MAX blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the Boeing 737 MAX blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight, The Wall Street Journal reports. The paper reports that investigators have been in touch with a number of passengers and crew aboard the Jan. 5 flight after it was forced to make an emergency landing when part of the fuselage panel ripped off mid-flight. “In an event like this, it’s normal for the DOJ to be conducting an investigation. We are fully cooperating and do not believe we are a target of the investigation,” Alaska Airlines told the paper. Investigators want to determine if Boeing complied with a $2.5 billion settlement struck in 2021 resulting from two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. The National Transport Safety Board has said that four crucial bolts were missing from the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 when it left the Boeing factory.