The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday ordered U.S. airlines to suspend the use of some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes pending their inspection, less than a day after one of those planes lost a body part in mid-air, leaving passengers in fear and anxiety Terrified until the plane landed safely.
Alaska and United Airlines began canceling dozens of flights Saturday after grounding their Max 9 fleets so the planes could undergo federally required inspections.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland, Oregon, on Friday bound for Ontario, California, but was redirected back to Portland six minutes later, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. Passengers described a disturbing experience as the wind blew through a gaping hole that showed the night sky and the lights of the city below. The plane landed about 20 minutes after takeoff and no one on board was seriously injured.
One passenger, Vi Nguyen of Portland, said she was woken up by a loud noise during the flight. “I open my eyes and the first thing I see is the oxygen mask right in front of me,” said Ms. Nguyen, 22. “And when I look to the left, the wall on the side of the plane has disappeared.”
“The first thing I thought was, 'I'm going to die,'” she added.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to Portland to begin investigating the incident.
While the FAA has not yet publicly discussed the cause of the incident, it directed airlines to check what it called a “mid-cabin door plug.” Some of the Boeing 737 Max 9s are equipped with fewer seats and therefore do not require all of the exits originally intended for the aircraft. The doors that are not needed are closed with a stopper. The Alaska Air plane had two of these unnecessary doors, located between the tail of the plane and the wing emergency exits, that were “blocked.”
Forrest Gossett, a spokesman for Spirit AeroSystems, said Saturday that his company installed door plugs on the Max 9s and that Spirit installed the plug on the Alaska Air flight.
The FAA's order affects approximately 171 aircraft. The agency said required inspections are expected to take four to eight hours per aircraft.
“Safety will continue to guide our decision-making,” agency Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement. The FAA is working with the NTSB
Boeing issued a statement shortly after the FAA's grounding order. “Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact of this event on our customers and their passengers,” Jessica Kowal, a spokeswoman for Boeing, said in the statement. “We agree and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 aircraft with the same configuration as the affected aircraft.”
Alaska Airlines confirmed in a statement Saturday afternoon that it had begun door plug inspections and cleared 18 of its 65 Max 9s for return to service. The airline said it expects to complete inspections in the next few days. As of midday Saturday, the airline had canceled about 100 flights, or 13 percent of those scheduled for that day, according to FlightAware. Dozens of other flights were delayed.
United Airlines operates more Max 9s than any other airline, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider. Of United's 79 Max 9s in service, 33 have already been inspected, the airline said in a statement on Saturday. The airline said removing the planes from service is expected to result in about 60 cancellations per day.
“We are working directly with affected customers to find alternative travel options for them,” the airline said in a statement.
Dave Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, a union that represents more than 11,000 federal aviation workers, including safety inspectors, said Saturday that aviation safety experts from his union would be on site and the NTSB would help them figure out how Plug works The cover of the unused door was blown off the plane.
“In our view there is no acceptable situation in which something like this should happen, such a risk should not be introduced,” Mr Spero said. “They need to find out how it happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
According to the FAA aircraft registry, the plane was only certified in November. It began commercial service this month and has recorded 145 flights since then, according to Flightradar24, another flight tracking site.
Keith Tonkin, managing director of Aviation Projects, an aviation consulting firm in Brisbane, Australia, said an excessive difference in air pressure inside and outside the cabin may have caused the part to break off.
“The passengers were probably able to breathe normally even when the aircraft was at its highest altitude,” Mr Tonkin added.
A friend of Ms. Nguyen's, Elizabeth Le, 20, said she heard “an extremely loud bang.” When she looked up, she saw a large hole in the wall of the plane about two or three rows away, she said.
Ms. Le said that no one was sitting in the window seat next to the hole in the wall, but that a teenager and his mother were sitting in the middle and aisle seats. Flight attendants helped them move to the other side of the plane a few minutes later, she said. The boy appeared to have lost his shirt and his skin looked red and irritated, she added.
“It was honestly terrible,” she said. “I almost collapsed, but I realized I had to stay calm.”
There were announcements over the public address system, but none could be heard because the wind whipping through the plane was so loud, she said.
Evan Smith, 72, an attorney returning to his home in Murrieta, Calif., after visiting his daughter and son-in-law, who live in Portland, said he heard a loud “bang” and some “dark, smoky stuff.” “seen” swirled around the cabin.
Mr Smith said his experience as a military police officer had taught him that it was important to keep a cool head in such situations. He also said: “The plane was stable. It didn't shake. No strange maneuvers were performed. It just flew stable.”
He added: “I was sure the plane was fine and we would land well.”
Passengers flocked to Alaska Airlines phone lines Saturday to rebook canceled flights and find out whether upcoming flights would be affected by the suspension. Customer service wait times exceeded seven hours, according to passengers on social media.
Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, a union that represents flight attendants at Alaska, United and other airlines, said in a statement Saturday that she welcomed the inspections required by the FAA
“This is a critical step to ensure the safety of all crew and passengers and confidence in flight safety,” she said. “Life must always come first.”
The Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing pilots for Alaska, United and other airlines, echoed that sentiment in a statement Saturday, saying it applauded the FAA for ordering the grounding to ensure the safety of crews and the flying public to ensure.
Boeing's Max aircraft have a checkered history. After hundreds of people died in two Max 8 jet crashes within a few months in 2018 and 2019, the Max had to remain grounded worldwide.
In 2018, Lion Air Flight 610, a 737 Max 8, crashed into the sea off the coast of Indonesia, killing all 189 passengers and crew. Less than five months later, in 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed shortly after leaving the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board.
After the second crash, the Max planes remained on the ground. Boeing made changes to the plane, including to the flight control system that was behind the crashes, and the FAA cleared it to fly again in late 2020. In 2021, the company agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department, resolving a criminal allegation that Boeing conspired to defraud the agency.
In December, Boeing asked airlines to inspect all 737 Max aircraft for a possible loose screw in the rudder control system after an international airline discovered a screw with a missing nut during routine maintenance. Alaska Airlines said at the time that it expected to complete inspections of its fleet in the first half of January.
The Max planes are widely used. Of the nearly 2.9 million flights scheduled worldwide in January, 4.3 percent are scheduled to be operated with Max 8 aircraft, while 0.7 percent are scheduled to be operated with Max 9 aircraft.
According to the company, the Max is the most popular aircraft in Boeing's history, accounting for a fifth of all orders placed since 1955.
John Yoon, Victoria Kim, Orlando Mayorquin, Rebecca Carballo and Christine Chung contributed reporting.