Federal officials on Saturday ordered the immediate grounding of some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes pending inspection after an Alaska Airlines plane suffered an explosion that left a gaping hole in the side of the fuselage.
The required inspections take around four to eight hours per aircraft and affect around 171 aircraft worldwide.
Listen as the Alaska Airlines pilot reports a mid-air emergency.
Alaska Airlines said in a statement that crews on the 65 737 Max 9 planes in its fleet inspected paneled exits as part of recent maintenance on 18 planes and cleared them for return to service on Saturday. Inspections of the remaining aircraft are expected to be completed in the coming days, the company said.
An Alaska Airlines plane blew part of its fuselage shortly after takeoff 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) over Oregon late Friday, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing as the 171 passengers and six crew wore oxygen masks .
No one was seriously injured when the depressurized plane returned safely to Portland International Airport about 20 minutes after departure.
Authorities are still searching for the paneled exit door and have a good idea of where she ended up, Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference late Saturday.
“If you find this, please contact local law enforcement,” she said.
It was very fortunate that the plane had not yet reached cruising altitude when passengers and flight crew removed their seat belts and walked around the cabin, Homendy said.
“Nobody was sitting in 26A and B where that door plug is, the plane was about 16,000 feet and only 10 minutes from the airport when the door exploded,” she said. “Luckily they didn’t have a cruising altitude of 30,000 or 35,000 feet.”
Passenger Evan Smith said a boy and his mother were sitting in the row where the panel exploded, and the child's shirt was sucked out of the plane.
“They heard a big, loud bang in the back left. A whooshing sound and immediately everyone put on oxygen masks and everyone put them on,” Smith told KATU-TV.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday it would conduct an investigation.
Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said inspections of the company's 737-9 planes could take days. They make up a fifth of the company's 314 aircraft.
“We are working with Boeing and regulators to understand what happened … and will provide updates as more information becomes available,” Minicucci said. “My condolences go out to everyone who was on that flight – I’m so sorry for what you experienced.”
As of midday, Alaska had canceled more than 100 flights, or 15% of its Saturday schedule, according to FlightAware. United said the aircraft inspections would result in about 60 cancellations.
The Port of Portland, which operates the airport, told KPTV that firefighters treated minor injuries at the scene. One person was taken for further treatment but was not seriously injured.
Flight 1282 departed Portland at 5:07 p.m. Friday for a two-hour flight to Ontario, California. About six minutes later, the fuselage exploded while the plane was at an altitude of about 16,000 feet (4.8 kilometers). One of the pilots declared an emergency and asked for permission to descend to 10,000 feet (3 kilometers), the altitude at which there would be enough oxygen in the air for safe breathing.
“We need to get back to Portland,” the pilot told air traffic controllers in a calm voice that she maintained throughout the landing.
Videos posted online by passengers showed a gaping hole where the paneled exit once was and passengers wearing masks. They applauded as the plane landed safely about 13 minutes after the explosion. Then firefighters came down the aisle and asked passengers to stay in their seats while they treated the injured.
The affected aircraft rolled off the assembly line and received certification two months ago, according to FAA online records. According to FlightRadar24, another tracking service, there have been 145 flights since it went into operation on November 11th. The flight from Portland was the third of the day.
Aviation experts were stunned that part of a new aircraft would take off. Anthony Brickhouse, a professor of aerospace safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said he had seen fuselage parts come off planes before but couldn't recall an instance where passengers “were looking at the city lights “.
He said the incident was a reminder to passengers to stay buckled up.
“If there had been a passenger sitting in that window seat who happened to remove his seatbelt, we would have a completely different news story.”
The Max is the latest version of Boeing's venerable 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle plane often used on domestic flights in the United States. The aircraft entered service in May 2017.
The president of the union that represents flight attendants at 19 airlines, including Alaska Airlines, praised the crew for keeping passengers safe.
“Flight attendants are trained to respond to emergencies and we work with aviation safety first and foremost on every flight,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said in a statement Saturday.
In 2018 and 2019, two Max 8 aircraft crashed, killing 346 people and prompting a nearly two-year global grounding of all Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft. They only returned to service after Boeing made changes to an automated flight control system that was implicated in the crashes.
Last year, the FAA asked pilots to limit the use of an anti-ice system on the Max in dry conditions because of concerns that the inlets around the engines could overheat and break off, potentially striking the plane.
Max deliveries were temporarily paused to resolve manufacturing defects. The company asked airlines in December to inspect the planes for a possible loose screw in the rudder control system.
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This story has been updated to clarify that some, but not all, Max 9 jetliners are subject to inspection and to correct the number of passengers to 171.
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Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska. Associated Press reporters Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Hawaii, contributed.