INEWS
Boeing has again come under intense scrutiny over the safety of its planes after an aircraft’s door plug was blown out mid-air on Friday – and found in the back garden of a suburban home in Portland, Oregon.
The corporation’s Boeing 737 series has faced questions over the past few years, particularly following two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
The latest setback for Boeing’s top-selling 737 Max fleet occurred on Friday when a cabin panel blowout forced Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 to make an emergency landing, causing a slew of flight cancellations as jets of the same Max 9 model were grounded.
One aviation analyst told i that the incident represented a setback for the company at a time when “passenger confidence in the Max is already fragile” following previous crashes, and will “add to the questions over the quality and safety culture” at factories in the US.
What happened on Friday?
The Alaska Airlines plane took off from Portland and was heading to Ontario, California, when it was forced into an emergency landing because the plug door on its left side blew off at 16,000 feet, according to FlightRadar24.
“We’d like to get down,” the pilot told air traffic control, according to a recording posted on liveatc.net, which provides live broadcasts from across the world. “We are declaring an emergency.”
“We do need to come down to 10,000,” the pilot added, referring to the initial staging altitude for such emergencies, below which breathing is considered possible for healthy people without extra oxygen.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Saturday ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing Max 9 jets installed with the same panel, which weighs about 60 pounds (27 kg) and covers an optional exit door mainly used by low-cost airlines.
It said the issue could affect other aircraft of the same design, and ordered inspections before further flight of the aircraft. Boeing said it would support the FAA’s decision.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has opened an investigation into the incident, said late on Sunday the “key missing component” to help identify what went wrong, namely the missing door, had been found by a Portland school teacher.
He was identified only as “Bob”, a resident in the Cedar Hills neighbourhood, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said, saying she was “very relieved” it had been found.
Ms Homendy described how the force from the loss of the plug door was strong enough to blow open the cockpit door during flight in what must have been a “terrifying event” for the 171 passengers and six crew aboard.
Were there warnings?
Ms Homendy said the auto pressurisation fail light had illuminated on the same Alaska Airlines aircraft on 7 December, 3 and 4 January, but it was unclear if there was any connection between those incidents and the accident.
Alaska Airlines made a decision after the warnings to restrict the aircraft from making long flights over water to Hawaii so that it could return quickly to an airport if needed, Ms Homendy said.
The Seattle-based carrier said earlier in a response to questions about the warning lights that aircraft pressurisation system write-ups were typical in commercial aviation operations with large planes.
