Alaska Airlines is conducting safety checks after part of the hull, along with the window of a brand new airliner… fell off mid-flight. Depressurization has occurred. Flights of dozens of Boeing 737 MAX 9 have been grounded.
How tells Reuters, after taking off from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, part of the fuselage came off the left side of the plane. Due to the emergency situation, the pilots turned back and landed safely with 171 passengers and six crew members on board.
The airline’s CEO, Ben Minicucci, said 65 of these aircraft are awaiting thorough inspections. They will only be returned to service after maintenance and safety checks, which he expects to be completed “in the next few days.”
Photos posted on social networks show that part of the side wall of the plane is missing. The extra door is typically installed by low-cost airlines that use extra seats that require more escape routes. This door is permanently “locked” or deactivated on Alaska Airlines aircraft.
According to the US Federal Aviation Administration, the new MAX 9 aircraft was delivered to Alaska Airlines in late October and certified in early November. Boeing said it was looking into the emergency landing, and US aviation authorities announced an investigation. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said 171 aircraft will be inspected. writes Air Force.
According to one of the passengers, the gap that formed was as wide as a refrigerator, and photographs from the cabin show a large patch of the night sky next to the people’s seats. Passengers heard a “very loud bang” as oxygen masks fell from above. He also referred to other witnesses who were closer to the affected area of the plane, according to whom there was a child in that row. “His shirt was torn off, it was sucked into the window, and his mother held him so that he himself would not follow her,” said the passenger.
In the released audio recording, the female pilot can be heard asking the air traffic controller for an emergency landing. “We’d like to go lower if possible,” she says. – We have an emergency situation. We have depressurization, we need to go back. We have 177 passengers.”
Judging by the photographs, the damage area was in the rear third of the aircraft, behind the wing and engines. The fuselage incident occurred at an altitude of approximately five kilometers. There were 177 passengers and crew members on board the stricken aircraft. According to representatives of the operating company Alaska Airlines, none of them were injured.
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