“That is a hideously high and very alarming number, and if our quality system on 737 was healthy, it would have stopped the line and driven the issue back to supplier after the first few instances.”
The number is 392 nonconforming findings on 737 door installations in 365 days. Spirit AeroSystems allegedly painted over defective rivets, and the door plug on N704AL left the factory without its four retaining bolts because nobody wrote up a formal removal. Boeing spun Spirit off to private equity in 2005 to cut costs. The savings went to shareholders and the bill showed up as a hole in the side of an Alaska Airlines jet.