DOJ opens probe into Alaska Airlines plane blowout: report

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly opening a probe into the Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines blowout, in response to a brand new report from The Wall Street Journal. 

Investigators have reportedly contacted a number of passengers and crew members on the Jan. 5 flight, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing “documents and people familiar with the matter.” 

“In an event like this, it’s normal for the DOJ to be conducting an investigation. We are fully cooperating and do not believe we are a target of the investigation,” Alaska Airlines instructed Fox News Digital in an e-mail assertion. 

The article said the probe would “inform the Justice Department’s review of whether Boeing complied with an earlier settlement that resolved a federal investigation” on account of two deadly incidents involving Boeing 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019. 

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A plastic sheet covers an space of the fuselage of the Alaska Airlines N704AL Boeing 737 Max 9 plane exterior a hangar at Portland International Airport Jan. 8, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rescinded its grounding order for Boeing’s 737 Max jet in November 2020 after a 20-month overview after crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 passengers.

Investigators have reportedly begun notifying passengers on the Jan. 5 flight that they’re potential crime victims within the case, in response to a doc considered by The Wall Street Journal. Pilots and flight attendants on the plane have already been interviewed, in response to the outlet. 

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Fox News Digital has additionally reached out to the DOJ for a further assertion. 

A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report launched final month discovered that 4 key bolts had been lacking from the door plug. 

Investigators have reportedly begun notifying passengers on the Jan. 5 flight that they’re potential crime victims within the case, in response to a doc considered by the Wall Street Journal. Pilots and flight attendants on the plane have already been interviewed, in response to the outlet.  (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto by way of Getty Images)

“Overall, the observed damage patterns and absence of contact damage or deformation around holes associated with the vertical movement arrestor bolts and upper guide track bolts in the upper guide fittings, hinge fittings, and recovered aft lower hinge guide fitting indicate that the four bolts that prevent upward movement of the MED plug were missing before the MED plug moved upward off the stop pads,” the report states.

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Alaska Airlines flight 1282 made an emergency touchdown Jan. 5, shortly after taking off from Oregon’s Portland International Airport when a door plug blew off the jetliner because it was ascending for a visit to California. 

Alaska Airlines flight 1282 made an emergency touchdown Jan. 5, shortly after taking off from Oregon’s Portland International Airport, when a door plug blew off the jetliner because it was ascending for a visit to California.  (Kyle Rinker/Fox News)

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The blowout prompted the FAA to floor comparable Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners for inspections. The grounding resulted in 1000’s of flight cancellations.

Fox News’ Stephany Price and Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.