An Alaska Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing on Friday night due to a large hole in the fuselage caused by a mid-air rupture.
As a result of an Alaska Airlines plane that lost a cabin panel while it was in flight on Friday with around 180 people on board, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered airlines to temporarily ground some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes for safety inspections. According to the New York Times, the aircraft, which had only been operational since November, was able to make a safe landing back at Portland International Airport in Oregon, which is the same airport from which it had taken off. Despite the fact that there were no major injuries, the Alaska branch of the Association of Flight Attendants said that workers described a “explosive” decompression in the cabin and that one flight attendant had minor injuries.
The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Mike Whitaker, stated that the FAA is mandating rapid inspections of specific Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft before they are allowed to resume flight. We will continue to base our decisions on safety as we provide assistance to the National Transportation Safety Board in their investigation of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.
In the immediate aftermath of the event, Alaska Airlines Chief Executive Officer Ben Minicucci issued a statement in which he announced that the airline would be conducting safety inspections on its fleet of sixty-five Boeing 737-9 aircraft for a period of time that the firm anticipates would be only a few days. According to Minicucci, none of the aircraft will be put back into service until the completion of all of the necessary maintenance and safety examinations and checks. The FAA ruling extends the grounding to “approximately 171 aeroplanes worldwide” that are either operated by airlines based in the United States or are located inside the territory of the United States.
A further statement made by Minicucci was that the National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an inquiry into the events that occurred with Flight 1282, and that “we will fully support their investigation.” It had been on its way to Ontario, California, when the jet had taken off. The blowout was said to have occurred at approximately 16,000 feet, according to Reuters, which cited FlightRadar24. A number of people can be seen sitting right next to the huge hole and the sky that is completely exposed in social media images that have been shared with Reuters and the New York Times.
The Boeing 737 Max was already grounded for nearly two years following a series of deadly accidents that occurred in 2018 and 2019. In the tragedy that occurred in Indonesia in 2018, all 189 persons on board the plane were killed, and in the crash that occurred in Ethiopia in 2019, another 157 people were slain. In 2021, Boeing reached a deal with the Department of Justice that required the company to pay $2.5 billion in order to avoid being charged with criminal offences related to the incidents.