That really was a close one!
Jet’s door falls 16,000ft into teacher’s back garden
BOEING was on the brink of a safety crisis last night as inspectors examine if the bolts were missing when a plane door came off at 16,000ft.
The emergency exit from the Alaska Airlines passenger jet was found on Sunday near Portland, Oregon, in a schoolteacher’s garden after it blew out.
The Boeing 737 Max 9 had to make an emergency landing soon after the flight took off on Friday.
None of the 177 people aboard were injured. The near-disaster caused the biggest share fall in Boeing in over a year, with more than €11.6billion knocked off its value.
Inspectors are investigating whether four bolts supposed to hold the panel – or door plug – in place were missing. Alaska Airlines said that ‘initial reports from our technicians indicate some loose
‘Not yet recovered the four bolts’
hardware was visible on some aircraft’. Its CEO Ben Minicucci said their Max 9s would go back into its fleet only after clearing precautionary maintenance procedures, which he expected to be ‘in the next few days’.
Clint Crookshanks at the National Transportation Safety Board said last night they had ‘not yet recovered the four bolts... And we have not yet determined if they existed there’.
United Airlines has since reported it found loose parts in the door plugs on at least five of its Boeing 737 Max 9 jets.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has grounded 171 Max 9s for airlines to begin safety checks. It said it required immediate inspections before certain jets could return to the skies.
Boeing has called an online meeting for employees to discuss safety concerns. It pledged to ‘address any and all findings’ airlines make during their inspections.
Passengers on Alaska Airlines flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, were left fearing for their lives after the section of the fuselage detached.
Boeing was contacted for a comment.