Boeing is under investigation on whether the manufacturing of a door panel in a 737 met approved design standards.

The investigation’s focus is on “plug”-type passenger doors as well as other discrepancies. These “plugs” may have caused a door panel to fall off an Alaska Airlines 737-9 MAX jetliner flight, forcing a ground landing in Oregon last week. 

The plug from that flight was found near Portland and will be analyzed in a government laboratory during the investigation. 

“This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again.” The FAA said on Thursday. “The FAA wants to ensure Boeing is following the correct regulations and safety measures. They also advised that Boeing’s manufacturing practices must ‘comply with the high safety standards they’re legally accountable to meet.’” 

In a letter to the company’s vice president on Wednesday, the FAA informed Boeing of the investigation. The company has 10 business days to respond for any evidence to be considered. 

The letter, sent from the aircraft certification service, states that “Boeing may have failed to ensure its completed products conformed to its approved design” and that the condition of the plane was not safe for operation.

Boeing is asked to respond with “the root cause of the encountered condition(s)” and any immediate “action taken to correct” and prevent an incident such as this from happening again.  

The FAA has halted the use of Max 9 jets until Boeing’s inspection guidelines and planes are reassessed. Alaska Airlines flights are canceled until Saturday. 

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As the investigation into the Alaska Airlines flight continues, officials are falling short on leads and unsure whether the bolt that was supposed to fill the hole in the door panel was in place from the time of departure. 

Luckily, no major injuries occurred from the emergency landing.