U.S. officials ground certain Boeing 737-9 Max jets after panel blowout during Alaska Airlines flight
U.S. officials on Saturday ordered the immediate grounding of some Boeing 737-9 Max jetliners until they are inspected after an Alaska Airlines plane suffered a blowout that left a gaping hole in the side of the fuselage.
The required inspections will take around four to eight hours per aircraft and will affect about 171 airplanes worldwide.
Alaska Airlines in a statement said that of the 65 737-9 Max aircraft in its fleet, crews had inspected the panelled-over exits as part of recent maintenance work on 18 planes, and those were cleared to return to service Saturday. Inspections for the remaining aircraft were expected to be completed in the coming days, the company said.
Canadian airlines say they don’t fly the Boeing 737-9 Max jetliners being grounded state-side.
The Alaska Airlines jetliner blew out a portion of its fuselage shortly after takeoff above Oregon late Friday, creating a gaping hole that forced the pilots to make an emergency landing as its 171 passengers and six crew members donned oxygen masks.
No one was seriously hurt as the depressurized plane returned safely to Portland International Airport about 20 minutes after departure.
‘A big loud bang’
Passenger Evan Smith said a boy and his mother were sitting in the row where the panel blew out and the child’s shirt was sucked off him and out of the plane.
“You heard a big loud bang to the left rear. A whooshing sound and all the oxygen masks deployed instantly and everyone got those on,” Smith told KATU-TV.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday it will investigate.
Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said the inspection of the company 737-9 fleet aircraft could take days to complete. They make up a fifth of the company’s 314 planes.
“We are working with Boeing and regulators to understand what occurred … and will share updates as more information is available,” Minicucci said. “My heart goes out to those who were on this flight. I am so sorry for what you experienced.”
Alaska cancelled more than 100 flights, or 15 per cent of its Saturday schedule by midday, according to FlightAware. United said the plane inspections would result in about 60 cancellations.
Boeing has agreed to pay $200 million US to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle civil charges that it misled investors about the 737 Max crashes.
The Port of Portland, which operates the airport, told KPTV that the fire department treated minor injuries at the scene. One person was taken for more treatment, but wasn’t seriously hurt.
Flight 1282 had taken off from Portland at 5:07 p.m. Friday for a two-hour flight to Ontario, Calif. About six minutes later, the chunk of the fuselage blew out as the plane was at about 16,000 feet. One of the pilots declared an emergency and asked for clearance to descend to 10,000 feet, the altitude where the air would have enough oxygen to breathe safely.
“We need to turn back to Portland,” the pilot told controllers in a calm voice that she maintained throughout the landing.
Videos posted by passengers online showed a gaping hole where the window had been and passengers wearing masks. They applauded when the plane landed safely about 13 minutes after the blowout. Firefighters then came down the aisle, asking passengers to remain in their seats as they treated the injured.
Panel used as optional exit door
Photos posted by passengers appear to show a panel that can be used for an optional rear mid-cabin exit door had been torn away, leaving a door-shaped gap. Reports said the seat next to the panel was unoccupied.
An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday after a window and piece of fuselage blew out in midair. John Cox, a former pilot and the president of Safety Operating Systems, discusses what investigators will be looking at and what passengers should do if they find themselves in a similar situation.
The extra door is typically installed by low-cost airlines using extra seats that require more paths for evacuation. However, those doors are permanently “plugged,” or deactivated, on Alaska Airlines jets.
“This type of door has been in use for a number of years,” John Cox, former pilot and CEO of the U.S. aviation consulting group Safety Operating Systems, told CBC News on Saturday.
“It’s not only used in the Max but also in the [Boeing 737] New Generation airplanes, and there has not been, to my knowledge, any cases where in either the NG or the Max before today, a case where one of these doors has come open,” he said.
“It will be helpful if they can find the door so that they’ll have both sides of the latching mechanism.”
Boeing’s past troubles
The Max is the newest version of Boeing’s venerable 737 — a twin-engine, single-aisle plane frequently used on U.S. domestic flights. The plane went into service in May 2017.
The plane involved rolled off the assembly line and received its certification just two months ago, according to online FAA records. The plane had been on 145 flights since entering commercial service on Nov. 11, said FlightRadar24, another tracking service. The flight from Portland was the aircraft’s third of the day.
Aviation experts were stunned that a piece would fly off a new aircraft.
Anthony Brickhouse, a professor of aerospace safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said he has seen panels of fuselage come off planes before, but couldn’t recall one where passengers were “looking at the lights of the city.”
He also said the incident is a reminder for passengers to stay buckled in. “If there had been a passenger in that window seat who just happened to have their seat belt off, we’d be looking at a totally different news story.”
The union representing flight attendants at 19 airlines, including Alaska Airlines, commended the crew for keeping passengers safe.
“Flight Attendants are trained for emergencies and we work every flight for aviation safety first and foremost,” the Association of Flight Attendants said in a statement Saturday.
Two Max 8 jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people and leading to a near two-year worldwide grounding of all Max 8 and Max 9 planes.
The planes returned to service only after Boeing made changes to an automated flight control system implicated in the crashes.
Last year, the FAA told pilots to limit use of an anti-ice system on the Max in dry conditions because of concern that inlets around the engines could overheat and break away, possibly striking the plane.
Max deliveries have been interrupted at times to fix manufacturing flaws. The company told airlines in December to inspect the planes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder-control system.
