Boeing has announced it is replacing the head of its 737 Max program as part of a reshuffling of the company in the wake of the much-publicized incident of a door plug blowing out of an Alaska Airlines flight last month.
Katie Ringgold will be replacing Ed Clark – an 18-year veteran of the company – as vice president and general manager of the 737 Max program and Renton site, Boeing said.
The company also announced other leadership changes.
The fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was forced to make an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage, is seen during its investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board in Portland, Ore., Jan. 7, 2024
NTSB/Handout via Reuters
Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Stan Deal said, “I am announcing several leadership changes as we continue driving BCA’s enhanced focus on ensuring that every airplane we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements. Our customers demand, and deserve, nothing less.”
The door plug fell off a few minutes after Alaska Flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport on Jan. 5. Passengers captured footage showing a hole where the door plug came loose on the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane. The plane safely made an emergency landing and no one was seriously injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report Feb. 6 saying four bolts designed to prevent the door plug from falling off the plane were missing before the plug blew off.
Records reviewed by the NTSB showed that damaged rivets on the edge frame forward of the plug were replaced by Spirit AeroSystems employees at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, on Sept. 19, 2023, according to the agency’s report. Boeing had to open the plug by removing the two vertical movement arrestor bolts and two upper guide track bolts for the rivets to be replaced, but photo documentation obtained from Boeing showed evidence that the plug was closed with no bolts in three visible locations, according to the NTSB report.
A Boeing 737 Max aircraft during a display at the Farnborough International Airshow, in Farnborough, Britain, July 20, 2022.
Peter Cziborra/Reuters, FILE
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