The United States (US) aviation regulator on Saturday (6/1) temporarily suspended the use of a number of Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft for safety checks after the window glass on an Alaska Airlines plane came loose while in flight. As a result of the incident, the new Alaska Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing.
Part of the plane on the left side came off as the plane was climbing moments after taking off from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, on Friday (5/1). The incident forced the pilot to make a U-turn and land safely. The plane itself at that time had 171 passengers and six crew members on board.
The jet has only been operational for eight weeks.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 had reached an altitude of more than 16,000 feet when the explosion occurred, according to FlightRadar24. “We want to go down,” the pilot told air traffic control, according to the recording posted on liveatc.net.
Damaged parts of the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, Flight 1282, which was forced to return to Portland International Airport on Friday, January 5, 2024. (The Oregonian via AP)
“We are declaring an emergency. We need to get down to 10,000,” the pilot added, referring to the starting altitude for such emergencies, below which it is considered possible to breathe for healthy people without supplemental oxygen.
The decision by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is much lighter than the global flight ban on the Boeing Max almost five years ago. This was done following two Boeing Max crashes which killed nearly 350 people. However, the FAA’s decision is another blow to Boeing as the company tries to recover from a safety crisis and a pandemic that left it with a massive debt pile.
The FAA did not rule out taking further action as an investigation begins into the apparent structural failure. The incident left a rectangular hole in the fuselage area that was intended for an optional but disabled extra door on the Alaska Airlines plane.
Boeing 737 MAX 9s equipped with special door replacement “plugs” cannot fly until they are inspected and repaired if necessary, the FAA said.
“The FAA is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft before they can return to flight,” said FAA Chairman Mike Whitaker.
A number of posts on social media showed oxygen masks being put on and parts of the plane’s side walls missing.
The fuselage section designated for the optional doors disappears, leaving a neat door-shaped gap. The seat next to the panel, which contained a regular window, was empty.
Emma Vu, a passenger on the Alaska flight, told CNN that she woke up when the plane “just crashed, and I knew it wasn’t just regular turbulence because the mask fell off and that’s when the panic started to set in.”
Alaska Airlines flight 1276, a flight using a Boeing 737-900, at Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon, January 6, 2024. (Photo: AP)
Extra doors are usually installed by low-cost airlines that use extra seats that require more routes for evacuation. However, the doors are permanently “installed,” or disabled, on jets with fewer seats, including those of Alaska Airlines.
The FAA said it would conduct inspections of 171 MAX 9 planes, but did not say how many planes would require new inspections or what the exact inspection requirements would be.
Boeing said it supports the FAA’s decision.
Several foreign regulators including China asked for detailed information about the incident, a person familiar with the matter said. Bloomberg previously reported that China, the first country to ban MAX flights in 2019, was considering whether to take action.
The Boeing logo is seen on a 777-9 aircraft on display at the 54th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France, June 18, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)
MAX planes were grounded worldwide for 20 months after crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia linked to poorly designed cockpit software.
Alaska Affected
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines are the only US airlines using the MAX 9, according to aviation data provider Cirium. Both of them canceled dozens of flights on Saturday (6/1).
Alaska said earlier it was voluntarily grounding its fleet of 65 Boeing MAX 9 jets for inspection. It said that 18 aircraft had been inspected during recent maintenance and cleared to fly, while other inspections were expected to take several days.
United said it was suspending service about 45 MAX 9s for inspections and expected 60 flight cancellations on Saturday.
Boeing is awaiting certification for the MAX 7, a smaller plane, and the MAX 10, a larger plane. Both types of aircraft are needed to compete with the Airbus A321neo model.
Boeing has experienced numerous production problems with its MAX aircraft in the years since the two crashes. Last week, Boeing said it was urging airlines to inspect all 737 MAX planes for loose bolts in the steering control system. (ah/ft)