Boeing has no documentation of work on the torn fuselage section, which is why Joe Biden is now reaching for the wooden hammer

The accident investigation agency NTSB emphasized Wednesday that it still does not know who removed and reattached the fuselage section at the Boeing Renton plant. Boeing boss Dave Calhoun also said that the aircraft manufacturer had no documents about it, NTSB boss Jennifer Homendy wrote in a letter to the US Senate Transportation Committee.

In the incident involving an almost new Boeing 737-9 Max of the American airline Alaska Airlines, a fuselage fragment broke off in row 26 shortly after take-off. The more than 170 people on board were largely shocked. But experts also pointed out that, by a fortunate coincidence, the two seats near the hole in the fuselage remained empty and the plane was still at a relatively low altitude.

According to initial investigations, the NTSB believes that four mounting bolts on the fuselage section were completely missing. There is evidence that the fragment continued to slide upward until it broke out on the machine’s 154th flight, Homendy said at a U.S. Senate hearing a few days ago. The committee also instructed her to report in writing whether Boeing provided documents about the work on the fuselage section. In aircraft construction it is common to document work steps in detail. Boeing emphasized on Wednesday that it is cooperating with the investigations.

The NTSB had also hoped to learn more about the work on the fragment through security camera footage. But Boeing announced that the recordings had now been dubbed. The company pointed out on Wednesday that the recordings would be automatically overwritten by new recordings after 30 days – and that the machine was at the factory in September and delivered in October. (sda/dpa)