Loose bolts found on more Boeing Max 9s

Fresh doubts have arisen about Boeing’s Max family of aircraft after inspections revealed loose bolts on a number of other Max 9s in Alaska Airlines’ and United Airlines’ fleets.

The aircraft were pulled from flight schedules after door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines’ Max 9, resulting in a terrifying ordeal for passengers and crew.

aIn an incredible stroke of luck, no passengers were seated alongside the door plug in row 26 when it blew off as the flight ascended from Portland International Airport on January 5. The door plug was found on in a Portland backyard. The incident resulted in the grounding of Max 9s, predominantly operated by Alaska and United Airlines.

On Tuesday, United revealed inspections of its own

Max 9s had found some loose bolts, thought to have been the cause of the Alaska Airlines emergency. “These findings will be remedied by our technical operations team to safely return the aircraft to service,” said a United spokeswoman.

Alaska Airlines also revealed initial reports from technicians indicated “loose hardware visible on some aircraft”.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was aware of the reports of “loose bolts” but its sole focus was the door plug from the Alaska Airlines flight.

No Max 9s operate in Australia, although Virgin Australia and Bonza both fly 737 Max 8s, which returned to service in late 2020 after being grounded for almost two years due to safety issues. A Bonza spokesman said it had received an assurance from Boeing there was “no impact” to its fleet.