A pilot on the Alaska Airlines flight that lost a door plug is suing the airline for $10m, saying it tried to blame the crew

"The captain of the Alaska Airlines plane that lost a panel midflight is suing Boeing, accusing it of trying to "scapegoat" the pilots. Attorneys for Brandon Fisher filed the lawsuit last Tuesday in an Oregon court, asking for $10 million in damages. Back in January 2024, Flight 1282 took off from Portland, bound for Ontario, California. But at 16,000 feet, the Boeing 737 Max lost a door plug - a panel that covers a deactivated emergency exit."

"An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board later found that the plane had left Boeing's factory missing key bolts that would've secured the door plug. It said that the fuselage arrived from the supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, with damaged rivets. Boeing workers removed the plug to repair them, but didn't put the bolts back in place, the NTSB found. This work wasn't properly documented, which also meant that there was no inspection that could've spotted the missing bolts, it said."

Captain Brandon Fisher filed a $10 million lawsuit against Boeing, alleging the company attempted to scapegoat pilots after an in-flight loss of a door plug on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. The incident occurred in January 2024 when the Boeing 737 Max lost a door plug at 16,000 feet, prompting an emergency descent and a safe landing by Captain Fisher and First Officer Emily Wiprud. The NTSB found missing bolts and damaged rivets on the fuselage supplied by Spirit AeroSystems, and discovered undocumented repairs at Boeing's facility that left the plug unsecured. Spirit AeroSystems is named as a defendant and Boeing completed acquisition of most of Spirit in December.

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