An Alaska Airlines plane takes off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on December 4, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Alaska Airlines will temporarily ground its fleet of 65 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes after a bit of the plane blew out midflight on Friday, forcing the crew to make an emergency landing.
“Each aircraft shall be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections,” CEO Ben Minicucci said. “We anticipate all inspections shall be accomplished in the following few days.”
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was heading to Ontario, California from Portland, Oregon, when it returned shortly after departure with 171 passengers and 6 crew aboard, the airline said.
Images and video of the brand new Boeing 737 Max 9 shared on social media showed a gaping hole on the side of the plane and passengers using oxygen masks. It landed back in Portland at 5:26 p.m. local time, in keeping with Flightradar24. It had reached an altitude of 16,325 feet before returning to Portland.
The National Transportation Safety Board said “no serious injuries” were reported. It’s sending a team to Portland to analyze, arriving in a while Saturday. The Federal Aviation Administration also said it plans to analyze.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a Saturday social media post that he had been briefed on the “terrifying incident” and that the FAA plans to “take all appropriate steps going forward.”
“While one of these occurrence is rare, our flight crew was trained and ready to soundly manage the situation,” Alaska said.
The plane was certified in November, in keeping with flight-tracking site FlightAware.
‘Explosive decompression’
Boeing also said it was aware of the incident but declined to comment further.
“We’re working to assemble more information and are involved with our airline customer,” it said in a press release. “A Boeing technical team stands able to support the investigation.”
The incident was described as “an explosive decompression on the window exit,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the labor union that represents Alaska’s cabin crew and flight attendants at United, Spirit and other carriers.
“Our Union strongly believes this decision [to ground the Max 9 fleet] is a prudent and crucial step toward ensuring the security of all crew and passengers,” she said in a press release. “We’ll closely monitor the security inspection process to be sure that aircraft will not be returned to service until they’re deemed protected for all.”
‘Plugged’ exit door
The Boeing 737 Max 9 has a cabin exit door behind the wings to be used in dense seating cabin configurations, like those utilized by budget airlines, in keeping with Flightradar24.
“The doors will not be activated on Alaska Airlines aircraft and are permanently ‘plugged,'” Flightradar24 said.
The airline didn’t immediately reply to an issue in regards to the door and Boeing declined to comment beyond its statement.
United Airlines is preparing to ground dozens of its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for inspections, in keeping with an individual acquainted with the matter.
There are 215 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in service worldwide, in keeping with aviation-data firm Cirium. It had greater than 5,000 flights scheduled for this 12 months before the Alaska announcement, Cirium said.
The Boeing 737 Max 9 is a bigger version of Boeing’s best-selling jetliner, the 737 Max 8. Max planes were grounded worldwide in 2019 after two fatal crashes inside five months. The U.S. lifted its flight ban of the jets in late 2020 after software and training updates.
Late last 12 months, Boeing urged airlines to examine aircraft for a “possible” loose bolt within the rudder control system, the newest in a series of producing flaws on the planes which have prompted additional inspections.
CORRECTION: Alaska Airlines had about 5,000 flights on the 737 Max 9 scheduled for this 12 months. A previous version mischaracterized the variety of flights.
