Alaska Airlines Grounds Boeing 737-9 Max Fleet After Plane Window Blows Out Mid-Flight
US-based Alaska Airlines grounded all of its Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft after one of its flights was forced an emergency landing as its window and piece of fuselage blew out in midair. ¡°Following tonight¡¯s event on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft.¡± Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said in a statement.
US-based Alaska Airlines grounded all of its Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft after one of its flights was forced an emergency landing as its window and piece of fuselage blew out in midair.
"Following tonight's event on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft." Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said in a statement.
Alaska Airlines
"We are working with Boeing and regulators to understand what occurred tonight and will share updates as more information is available," he said.
What happened to Flight 1282
The Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 from Portland to Ontario, California, with 174 passengers and six crew members, had climbed to 16,000 feet when the blowout happened.
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The pilot told Portland air traffic controllers the plane had an emergency, was depressurized and needed to return to the airport.
Video captures moment of horror
Videos taken by passengers show the mid-cabin exit door had completely separated from the aircraft.
Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 makes emergency landing after exit door separates in flight. pic.twitter.com/xj6AXmhwre
¡ª Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) January 6, 2024
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration said they will investigate the incident.
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According to online FAA records, the plane involved rolled off the assembly line and received its certification just two months ago. The plane had been on 145 flights since entering commercial service on Nov. 11, said FlightRadar24, another tracking service. The flight from Portland was the aircraft's third of the day.
Boeing said it was aware of the incident, working to gather more information, and was ready to support the investigation.
The Max is the newest version of Boeing's venerable 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle plane frequently used on US domestic flights. The plane went into service in May 2017.
AP
More troubles for Boeing?
The grounding of the Alaska Airlines fleet is more bad news for Boeing.
Two Max 8 jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people and leading to a nearly 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 implicated in the crashes.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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