Oregon: Alaska Airlines (ALK.N) will temporarily ground its fleet of 65 Boeing 737 MAX 9 (BA.N) planes after a cabin panel failure forced a jetliner full of passengers to make an emergency landing on Friday. , CEO Ben Minicucci said.
Minicucci said in a statement that the plane would only be returned to service after a maintenance and safety inspection, which he expected to be completed in the “next few days.” He termed this step as a precautionary measure.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which was headed to Ontario, California, suffered the incident shortly after departure at 5:06 p.m. It landed safely back in Portland, Oregon at 5:26 pm Pacific time. With 171 passengers and six crew on board, according to airline and Flightradar24 data.
Flightradar24 and security analysts said external photos of the plane showed that a panel that may have been used for the rear mid-cabin exit door had separated from the plane. Social media posts showed that the airplane was missing a window and part of a side wall and that oxygen masks were deployed.
Alaska said, “Although this type of incident is rare, our flight crew was trained and prepared to manage the situation safely.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating the depressurization incident. The Federal Aviation Administration also said the crew reported the pressurization issue and that it would investigate.
According to FAA data, the new MAX 9 was delivered to Alaska Airlines in late October and certified in early November.
Boeing said in a statement that it was considering an emergency landing.
“We are aware of the incident involving Alaska Airlines Flight 1282,” the company said. “We are working to gather more information and are in contact with our airline customer. A technical team from Boeing is ready to assist in the investigation.”
Flightradar24 said the Max 9 has a rear cabin door behind the wings that can be activated in a condensed seating arrangement to meet clearance requirements.
However, on Alaska Airlines jets those doors are permanently “plugged” or disabled.
The optional door is inherited from the older model, the 737-900ER. Many operators of that model who do not require additional seats opted to plug the door spaces prior to delivery, thereby reducing weight and making the cabin more flexible.
Boeing and Alaska Airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the doors.
The data shows that the aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 16,325 feet during the flight.
“Anytime you have this kind of rapid decompression, it’s a major safety incident,” said Anthony Brickhouse, an air safety expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
“I can’t imagine what these passengers must have experienced. It must have been very loud. The wind must have been rushing through that cabin. It was probably a very violent situation, and certainly a scary situation.”
The incident highlights the importance of passengers wearing seat belts when boarding an airplane, Brickhouse said, even if the fasten seat belt light is off, noting that the oxygen mask system is working properly.
“This is a very serious situation and it could have been much worse,” he said. “If someone had been sitting in that seat, and had not been belted, the situation would have been different.”
Last week, Boeing said it was urging airlines to inspect all 737 Max airplanes for possible loose bolts in the rudder control system.
The FAA said it is closely monitoring Boeing 737 Max inspections and will consider additional action if more loose or missing hardware is found.
The 737 Max was grounded worldwide for 20 months after two fatal crashes linked to poorly designed cockpit software in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Boeing is awaiting certification of its smaller 737 MAX 7 and larger MAX 10.
The FAA has carefully scrutinized the Max for years and said in 2021 it was tracking all 737 Max airplanes using satellite data.
