Why was Spirit AeroSystems sued? Lawsuit explored as Boeing door plug supplier repeatedly warned of defects before Alaska Airlines incident

On Friday, January 5, 2024, Boeing Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 had its door plug blown out mid-flight. The company that manufactured the door plugs, Spirit AeroSystems, was the subject of a class-action lawsuit back in May of last year, which continued into December.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation was launched into the incident. According to the lawsuit, company shareholders alleged that Spirit had concealed its "constant quality failures" from investors.

The 737 Max 9 plane, which was headed to Ontario, California, had to head back to Portland, Oregon, from where it took off. The panel detached only six minutes after the flight took off, which left a terrifying open hole in the middle of the airplane while the flight was at around 16,000 feet.

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The Boeing 737 Max 9 door plugs were installed by an under-fire Spirit AeroSystems

Last Friday, passengers of the Ontario-bound Boeing Alaska Flight 1282 were in for the shock of their lives as the flight's door plug got blown out less than ten minutes after take off, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the flight as the panel simply gave way 16,000 feet in. The Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 was forced to return for an emergency landing in Portland and luckily, everyone was safe.

Spirit AeroSystems is Boeing's primary parts supplier and also manufactures most of the fuselages used in the aforementioned Boeing 737 flight. This is important because the door plugs that got blown off in the aforementioned flight are a part attached to the fuselages. It should also be noted that the entire fleet of Boeing 737 Max airlines was grounded after the devastating crashes in 2018 and 2019.

In May of last year, a set of Spirit AeroSystems shareholders launched a class-action lawsuit against the company. The lawsuit alleged that the company hid the troubles in production and quality control and even made misleading statements before the company's market share dropped after media reports of the same problems came to light.

The lawsuit was later amended last month to include additional former employee testimonies regarding the accusations. According to The Lever's investigative piece regarding the lawsuit, it stated that the "widespread and sustained quality failures" of the company were hidden from investors. The complaint alleged:

"These failures included defects such as the routine presence of foreign object debris in Spirit products, missing fasteners, peeling paint, and poor skin quality."

These "constant quality failures" were attributed to two reasons. The first one was the company's culture, which went for "short-term financial outcomes" as opposed to actual product quality. The second reason was:

"Spirit’s related failure to hire sufficient personnel to deliver quality products at the rates demanded by Spirit and its customers, including Boeing."

The Lever also reported witness testimony from a former Spirit AeroSystems worker who had filed an ethics complaint because the company had asked him to misrepresent the number of defects that he was working on. The copy of a February 2022 email he sent to a company official was stated in the lawsuit.

After the email, he was demoted from his position. When he talked to a supervisor regarding the issue, he was told that he would be fired if he "refused to do as he was told." He even sent an email to the company's then-CEO, Tom Gentile. The complaint was eventually sustained and the man was re-instated to his earlier position but he ended up leaving a few months later.

The documents further alleged that Spirit AeroSystems discovered fuselage defects in the 400 Boeing MAX 737 flights slated for release in 2023, back in December of 2022, but it chose to conceal it. However, the rollout was delayed only when media reports regarding the defects surfaced in August of 2023. The defects were allegedly found out by former auditor, Joshua Dean.

When Dean pressed on regarding the findings, he was allegedly fired in 2023. Dean's alleged October 2022 discovery was explained in the filing. It read:

"The aft pressure bulkhead is a critical part of an airplane, which is necessary to maintain cabin pressure during flight."

It further added:

"Dean reported this defect to multiple Spirit employees over a period of several months, including submitting formal written findings to his manager. However, Spirit concealed the defect."

The complaint even detailed one more problem that Dean found. It quoted Joshua Dean as saying:

"Spirit laid off or voluntarily retired a large number of senior engineers and mechanics, leaving a disproportionate number of new and less experienced personnel."

One more allegation that was pointed out in the lawsuit may have direct consequences for the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane that underwent the door plug incident on Friday. A former employee's statement in the complaint claimed that auditors had constantly found improperly calibrated torque wrenches in mechanics' toolboxes. The employee was quoted as saying:

"This was potentially a serious problem, as a torque wrench that is out of calibration may not torque fasteners to the correct levels, resulting in over-tightening or under-tightening that could threaten the structural integrity of the parts in question."

This is important because according to CNBC, an initial report of an independent United Airlines inspection launched after the grounding of many 737 Max 9 flights post-Friday's incident found many loose bolts in several of the Boeing flights.