It was a horrifying sight: In midair, the Alaska Airlines Boeing lost a window and parts of the fuselage exploded. None of the 171 passengers were injured. The airline is currently testing this type of aircraft.
US airline Alaska Airlines is currently grounding all of its flights after parts of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft shattered a window and fuselage during flight. As a precaution, each of the 65 planes will be carefully inspected before being allowed to fly again, CEO Ben Minicusi said. He felt very sorry for the passengers on the flight that had to make an emergency landing on Friday (local time). Each machine will be restarted only after inspection.
Shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, the pilot declared an emergency due to a sudden loss of cabin pressure, according to the LiveATC.net website. A passenger sent KATU-TV station a photo showing a hole in the side of the plane next to several seats. A window was also broken.
Photo taken by a passenger after an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 MAX made an emergency landing.
Emergency at 4,800 meters
According to flight data, the Boeing was at an altitude of 4,876 meters at the time of the incident. According to FlightAware, the plane landed again 19 minutes after takeoff with 171 passengers and 6 crew members on board. The media reported that only a few people suffered minor injuries.
Passenger Evan Smith told station KATU-TV that he heard a loud noise in the rear left corner of the plane. “There was a hissing sound and immediately all the oxygen masks fell off.” As the pressure equalized, the boy's shirt, sitting with his mother near the torn window, was ripped from the machine.
us-Civil Aviation Authority The FAA wants to investigate the incident
The Boeing 737 Max 9 rolled off the assembly line two months ago and has been used on scheduled flights since Nov. 11, according to US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) online records. According to FlightRadar24, it has been used 145 times.
The FAA said it was investigating the case. Boeing pledged to cooperate with the agency and said it was gathering more information.
The MAX plane already has massive problems
Boeing's MAX series has made several negative headlines in the past: In 2018 and 2019, two MAX 8 planes crashed, killing a total of 346 people. As a result, a global flight ban was imposed on all MAX 8 and MAX 9 aircraft for nearly two years. The planes were allowed to take off again only after Boeing repaired the automatic flight control system that had been involved in the crashes.
Last year, deliveries of Max planes were temporarily halted to fix production errors. In December, the agency asked airlines to check planes for a possible loose screw in the rudder control system.
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