©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The fuselage cap area of the Boeing 737-9 MAX of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which was forced to make an emergency landing with a crack in the fuselage, is seen during the National Transportation Safety investigation Board (NTSB) in Portland,
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation told passengers on the Alaska Airlines (NYSE:) Boeing 737 MAX 9 involved in an in-flight emergency on Jan. 5 that they may be victims of a crime, some say letters seen by Reuters.
The letters, a procedural step in some Justice Department criminal investigations, are a sign that the MAX 9 emergency investigation is moving forward.
The letters, dated Tuesday, say the FBI has identified the passengers “as possible victims of a crime. This case is currently under investigation by the FBI. …A criminal investigation can be a lengthy undertaking and, For several reasons, we cannot tell you his progress at this time.”
The letters were previously reported by the Seattle Times.
An FBI spokesperson in Seattle declined to comment, citing Justice Department policy that it “neither confirms nor denies the existence of an investigation.”
The Justice Department in 2022 updated its guidance to alert victims of potential crimes after relatives of some of the 346 people killed in two Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019 said their legal rights were were violated when the department began deferred prosecution in January 2021 dealing with Boeing without notifying them.
The department also apologized for not meeting with relatives of crash victims before announcing the settlement that concluded a 21-month investigation into the design and development of the 737 MAX 8.
Boeing declined to comment Friday but said this month that it will continue to cooperate fully and transparently with all government investigations.
Alaska Airlines said it is fully cooperating with the investigation and does not believe it is the target of the investigation.
During the mid-air emergency, a door intake panel tore off the side of the MAX 9 jet at 16,000 feet, leaving a rectangular hole the size of a refrigerator in the plane. The plane landed safely with all 171 passengers and six crew members on board. Seven passengers and a flight attendant suffered minor injuries.
The National Transportation Safety Board said four key bolts appeared to be missing from the plane that had been delivered by Boeing months earlier. Boeing said it believes the requested documents detailing the removal of the bolts were never created.
Following the accident, the FAA grounded the MAX 9 for several weeks, preventing Boeing from increasing the MAX’s production rate and ordering it to develop a comprehensive plan to address “systemic quality control issues” within 90 days .