NTSB/Getty Images
This National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) document shows the exterior of the fuselage plug section of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX, covered in plastic.
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CNN
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Passengers on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 that caused a horrific mid-air explosion in January received a letter from the FBI saying they may have been the victims of a “crime.”
Mark Lindquist, an attorney representing several passengers on board Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, shared with CNN a letter the FBI office in Seattle sent to passengers on Tuesday.
“We are contacting you because we believe you may be the victim of a crime,” the letter reads in part. It also notes that the FBI is currently investigating the incident.
“The FBI neither confirms nor denies the existence of an investigation,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s public affairs office in Seattle wrote in an email to CNN, citing Justice Department policy.
Boeing declined to comment.
On January 5, 171 passengers and six crew members boarded a flight from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California. Shortly after takeoff, a fuselage panel known as the “door plug” was blown off, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
The Justice Department opened an investigation into the incident and Boeing in February. CNN previously reported.
Subpoenas have also recently been sent seeking documents and information potentially related to Boeing and Spirit Aerosystems Holdings, one of the people said, referring to a “door plug” used on the Boeing 737 Max 9. It is said that there is Report from Bloomberg.
“My clients and I welcome the Justice Department’s investigation,” Lindquist told CNN. “We want accountability. We want answers. We want a safer Boeing Company. We want to see more planes. And the Department of Justice investigation will help advance our goals.”
CNN has contacted several other attorneys representing passengers on the plane.
The development comes in the same week that Boeing announced it would report huge loss The first quarter started with the Alaska Airlines incident.
Part of the loss is due to compensation to the airline that owned the Max 9. Closed for 3 weeks After the incident. Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci told investors last month that the incident had taken a toll. Airlines approximately $150 millionand said it expects those losses to be covered by Boeing.
Chief Financial Officer Brian West said Wednesday that other factors in the loss were “all the things we’re doing around the factory,” leading to a slowdown in production at the company’s 737 MAX factory in Renton, Washington.
