More woes for Boeing 737 Max
Aircraft grounded again after blowout in flight
Air travelers will want to keep watch on the latest trouble facing the Boeing 737 Max aircraft.
The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded 171 of the Boeing 737 Max 9 planes worldwide after a hole blew out of an Alaska Airlines plane Friday night on a flight out of Portland, Oregon. No one was injured in the incident, and the flight made a safe emergency landing back at Portland International Airport.
In a statement on Boeing’s website, the aircraft company says: “Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers. We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane. In addition, a Boeing technical team is supporting the NTSB’s investigation into last night’s event. We will remain in close contact with our regulator and customers.”
But the involvement of the 737 Max airplane – previous safety concerns about the aircraft led to it being grounded for nearly two years – suggests there could be repercussions for the already troubled airplane fleet.
The National Transportation Safety Board has sent investigators to Portland to investigate the incident involving the Boeing 737 Max 9, Flight 1282 bound for Ontario, California.
Boeing 737 Max 9 aircrafts grounded by FAA, Alaska Airlines
The FAA said its Emergency Airworthiness Directive, affecting about 171 airplanes worldwide, would require inspections taking four to eight hours. “Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the NTSB’s investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282,” the agency said.
Before the FAA made their decision, Alaska Airlines had announced that it would be grounded its fleet of 65 Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes. But on Saturday, shortly before the FAA statement, Alaska Airlines said in a post on X that inspections had been done on more than a quarter of its 737 MAX 9 aircraft with “no concerning findings.” Flights on the fleet will return to service after successful inspections.
Since the aircraft is used by other airlines, an aviation analytics firm – other international agencies will be interested in any findings, too.
United Airlines released a statement to USA TODAY saying: “United has temporarily suspended service on select Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft to conduct an inspection required by the FAA. We are working directly with impacted customers to find them alternative travel options.” USA TODAY spoke with Shem Malmquist, instructor at college of aeronautics at the Florida Institute of Technology, about the grounding.
“To the extent that they need to do anything, the question is: Do they need to ground all the airplanes and look at other ones or can they look at this and say, this was just this particular configuration?” said Malmquist, a current Boeing 777 captain and experienced accident and safety investigator. “Until they’ve looked at it nobody is going to be able to give you a truthful answer.”
What happened on Flight 1282?
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was at about 16,000 feet shortly after takeoff when an exit door plug, a section of the fuselage, blew out. The crew reported a “pressurization issue,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration. 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 process.
Passenger Kyle Rinker described to CNN how “it was really abrupt. Just got to altitude, and the window/wall just popped off and didn’t notice it until the oxygen masks came off.”
The Alaska Airlines plane apparently had “plugged” a section of the plane that could be used as an exit door, with another cabin piece , Malmquist said. The number of exit doors needed on a plane is based on the seating configuration, with more exits required as the number of passengers accommodated rises.
Without an exit door there “it’s a bit lighter ... and it is a pretty big advantage to do that,” Malmquist said. If it’s determined that this configuration caused the incident, other airlines may not have to cancel any other flights, he said.
Alaska Airlines and investigators will look at whether the incident was caused by “that configuration or is it a general, larger problem,” Malmquist said. “If it’s a larger problem it’s a big mess because that means it could open other doors or other windows. If it’s just the plug windows, that greatly narrows the scope.”
Any other airline that uses a similar configuration – plugging that exit door – “is probably going to be proactive,” he said. “Airlines that are operating a different configuration may take more of a ‘wait and see’ (approach). They are going to be watching it closely.”
History of Boeing 737 Max
The aircraft involved in Friday’s incident is new to the Alaska Airlines fleet, having received its certification just two months ago, The Associated Press reported. It had flown 145 flights since entering service on Nov. 11, according to FlightRadar24, another tracking service. The flight from Portland was the aircraft’s third of the day.
The Max is the newest version of Boeing’s 737, a twin-engine plane frequently used on U.S. domestic flights.
The plane, which went into service in May 2017, has had controversy. Two Max 8 jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people, resulting in 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.
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.
And in December, the company told airlines to inspect the planes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder-control system.