U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito wants answers about an incident involving Boeing’s 737 MAX 9.
Capito, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, says a hearing will be held “sooner than later” on the door panel that detached from a MAX aircraft in midflight.
No one was seriously injured in the incident last week, at 16,000 feet, minutes after the Alaska Airlines plane took off from Portland, Oregon. Still, Capito has many questions about it.
“Is it shoddy material? Is it shoddy work? Is it not enough inspections?” Capito said. “There’s all kinds of questions you can ask.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. Spirit Aerosystems, which makes the aircraft’s fuselage in Wichita, Kansas, and Boeing, which assembles the plane in Everett, Washington, are supporting the probe.