The captain of the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX whose door plug separated in flight has filed a $10 million suit against the manufacturer alleging Boeing tried to blame the crew for damages alleged by passengers on the flight. Capt. Brandon Fisher said in his Dec. 30 court filing (copied in full at the end of this story) that in its defense against damages sought by two of the passengers on Flight 1282 on Jan. 5, 2024, “Boeing denied liability for damages to passengers, claiming that it should not be held responsible for injuries because its products were ‘improperly maintained or misused by persons and/or entities other than Boeing.'” Fisher claims that line of defense was intended to shift blame for the incident to him when he and his FO Emily Wiprud were “heroes” who landed the damaged aircraft safely. “It was clear Boeing’s words were directed at Captain Fisher in attempt to paint him as the scapegoat for Boeing’s numerous failures,” the suit alleges (para. 100 on page 17).
Fisher says in the suit that numerous national and international news outlets published stories about Boeing’s allegations and it has caused him reputational harm. “Because the articles contained a link to Boeing’s answer, the entire world could see that Boeing believed Captain Fisher and others were responsible for the incident, despite Captain Fisher(‘s) heroic actions that led to a safe emergency landing,” the suit further claims. He also said he’s being sued personally by two of the passengers as part of their case against Boeing and it has caused “severe emotional distress and has been detrimental to his personal life.” Boeing has not yet responded to Fisher’s claims, none of which have been proven in court.
Rule #1. No good deed shall go unpunished.
I hope Captain Fisher gets a HUGE check from Boeing, whom appears to have hired the wrong PR people/ spokespeople.
This does not sound like Boeing blaming the flight crew. The flight crew has nothing whatsoever to do with installing and/or maintaining door plugs. It seem pretty clear this statement is aimed squarely at Spirit AeroSystems, the company that designed and installed the door plug.
Question. Does the airworthiness certificate name Spirit or Boeing Commercial Aircraft?
Unknown.
Of course. It would name Boeing as the manufacturer.
So, if Boeing subbed work out to Spirit and then certified the aircraft, then Boeing is responsible for the work. New airplane, new certificate with their name on it. They are responsible. Doesn’t matter which company actually did the poor work.
But if this defect was due to a repair job _after_ certification then someone else _might_ be responsible.
That was my read, too. Seems a stretch, the closest Capppy comes to damages is being sued..which I hope Alaska is defending as the claims arose in the course and scope of his employment.
These things don’t let demonstrable reality stand in the way. Go back and re-read Capt. Fisher’s lawsuit starting at para 97. It’s abundantly clear that Boeing is attempting to sue everyone even remotely involved, in an effort to lessen their culpability. I’d be surprised if the carpet manufacturer wasn’t mentioned in it somewhere.
No good (or heroic) deed goes unpunished by the wealthy and powerful.
If you’re looking to sue someone, cast a wide net hoping you’ll catch some luckless fish. While you’re at it, you should sue the caterers, bag handlers, fuelers and the Easter Bunny.
i agree with the comments by John, Jason and Mark. These are frivolous lawsuits hoping for settlement money. The crew did an incredible job, and more than met the standard of care required of them. Kudos to them all.
Its never really wise for a big, medium or small sized corporation to make bold and ambiguous statements to trigger- questions.
Especially after an accident potentially affecting a companies public perception, very measured responses to sensationalistic questions are paramount. There is a rats tail following and simply not making any public statement of such sort may have prevented Capt. Fisher and Crew from being harmed.
Liability or culpability is determined by judges.
Miranda works all ways. Nobody can force anyone to say anything. Simply declining to comment could have saved Boeing $10 Million.