An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane returned to Portland 35 minutes following taking off for a flight to California following losing its exterior, including a window.
The company said the plane had 177 passengers and crew on board and “landed safely”.
The airline announced it would temporarily ground all 65 Boeing 737 Max 9s in its fleet for inspections.
“Each aircraft will be returned to service only following all maintenance and safety inspections have been completed,” Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said in a statement.
B Minicucci also praised the efforts of the six crew members on board the plane, which, according to flight tracking data, was at an altitude of more than 16,000 feet (4,876 m) when it began its emergency landing.
Pictures sent to news agencies show the night sky seen through a gap in the plane’s fuselage, as well as insulation material and other debris.
“My heart goes out to those who were on this flight – I have a lot of sympathy for what you have experienced,” lamented the CEO of the company.
According to photos on social networks, the affected area was in the rear third of the plane, behind the wing and engines.
The affected part of the fuselage appears to be an area that some operators of this type of aircraft, but not Alaska, may use as an additional emergency exit door, according to the BBC.
The US Federal Aviation Agency confirmed that Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 “returned safely … following the crew reported a pressurization problem”.
Boeing, meanwhile, said it was aware of the incident and was “working to gather more information.”
“Boeing’s technical team is ready to assist with the investigation,” they said in a statement.
Kyle Rinker, a passenger on the flight, told CNN that the window fell out shortly following takeoff.
“It was a very sudden event. As soon as I took off, the window/wall just fell out and I didn’t notice it until the oxygen mask fell off,” he told the broadcaster.
Another passenger, Vi Nguyen, told The New York Times that she was awakened by a loud noise during the flight.
“I open my eyes and the first thing I see in front of me is an oxygen mask,” she said. “I look to the left and see that the wall on the side of the plane is gone.”
“The first thing I thought was, ‘I’m going to die,'” the woman added.
The most inspected aircraft
After numerous safety issues and investigations, the Boeing 737 Max has been described as “the most scrutinized transport aircraft in history.”
in 2019 March. the operation of these aircraft was frozen for a year and a half following two planes of this type crashed in similar circumstances and killed the people flying them.
Each Boeing 737 Max 9 was heavily modified before it might fly once more, although those changes weren’t visible from the outside and passengers mightn’t tell any difference.
Boeing recently said it would increase the pace of deliveries of the 737 Max following resolving a supply error that caused lengthy inspections of new planes and their inventory, Reuters reported.
According to Boeing, regarding 1,300 aircraft of this type have been delivered to customers.
Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration urged airlines to re-inspect Boeing 737 Max 9 models for a possible loose screw in the rudder control systems.
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2024-07-08 01:26:11
