Source: AFP
The US aviation safety regulator said on Saturday it had grounded and ordered inspections of some Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes a day after a window on one of the planes was blown out over the state of Oregon.
The Federal Aviation Administration “requires immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplanes before they can return to flight,” the agency said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The agency said a total of about 171 aircraft worldwide would be affected, with each inspection lasting four to eight hours.
“Safety will continue to guide our decision-making,” the FAA statement said.
Alaska and United Airlines fly the largest number of MAX 9 planes. Boeing has delivered about 218 737 MAX 9 planes, the company told AFP.
On Friday, US-based Alaska Airlines grounded all 65 of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes after a flight with 177 people on board was forced to make an emergency landing, with passengers saying a window blew out after takeoff.
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Alaska Flight 1282 had departed from Portland International Airport on Friday night. It returned safely about 20 minutes later after the cabin crew reported a “pressurization problem,” according to the FAA.
Images posted on social media showed a plane window blown out, with emergency oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling.
“Following tonight’s incident on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary measure of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft,” Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said in a statement Friday.
“Each aircraft will only be returned to service after full maintenance and safety inspections have been completed,” he said.
Kyle Rinker, a passenger on the flight, told CNN that a window blew out shortly after takeoff.
“It was really steep. It just got to altitude and the window/wall just blew out,” he told the TV station.
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Another passenger, Vi Nguyen, told The New York Times that a loud noise during the flight woke her up.
“I open my eyes and the first thing I see is the oxygen mask right in front of me,” Nguyen told the paper. “And I look to the left and the wall on the side of the plane is gone.”
“The first thing I thought was ‘I’m going to die,'” he added.
“Rare Occurrence”
The National Transportation Safety Board, the FAA and Alaska Airlines said they are investigating the incident.
“While this type of incident is rare,” the airline said in an earlier statement, “our flight crew was trained and prepared to safely handle the situation.”
The plane, which was bound for Ontario, California, was certified airworthy in October and recently delivered to Alaska Airlines, according to the FAA registry website.
Boeing wrote to X that it was gathering more information and a technical team was ready to support the investigation.
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Boeing has struggled in recent years with technical and quality control issues related to its 737 MAX models.
In December, the US aviation giant told airlines that MAX planes would have to be inspected to check for loose hardware in the plane’s rudder control systems after an international carrier discovered a bolt with a missing nut while performing routine maintenance .
Boeing’s 737 MAX jets have been grounded around the world after two MAX 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed a total of 346 people.
The FAA approved returning the planes to service only after the company made changes to its flight control system.
Source: AFP