That company’s already turbulent reputation suffered another jolt this month when a door plug — a fake door that replaces a real one in some airline configurations — on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 blew out at about 16,000 feet. Investigations have commenced into the 737 Max 9, a fairly new jet freighted with Boeing’s penchant for producing flawed aircraft. With flights already full, the system can ill afford the grounding of 171 737 Max 9s. Aerospace was the West Coast’s original geek technology: Hughes Aircraft, Douglas Aircraft, Northrup, North American, Lockheed and others in California, and in Seattle, Boeing. Hughes, Douglas and North American would disappear in acquisitions and mergers.

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Persons: Max, Hughes Organizations: Xerox, . Steel, Boeing, Alaska Airlines Boeing, Max, Investigations, Aerospace, Hughes Aircraft, Douglas Aircraft, Lockheed, North Locations: North American, California, Seattle, Vietnam, Douglas