The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this morning ordered the “temporary grounding” of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft after a section of the fuselage separated from the side of an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday, leaving a gaping hole in the plane. The agency he said in his ad that it will soon send an Emergency Airworthiness Directive to require an inspection of all grounded aircraft that “will take between four and eight hours per plane.”
The New York Times reported yesterday that Portland International Airport Flight 1282 had made an emergency landing at the same airport just 20 minutes later due to a “pressurization issue” that caused a wall of the plane to explode. According to the Times, there was no one in the seat immediately next to the wall when it disappeared and only minor injuries were reported. The abrupt depressurization also reportedly ripped off the shirt of a teenage passenger who was sitting nearby.
Prior to the FAA's decision, Alaska Airlines grounded its own fleet of 65 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for inspection. This morning, the the company said had inspected more than a quarter of its fleet, with no “concerning findings.”
Boeing 737 Max planes have been grounded in the past by the FAA and airlines for other problems, such as problems with the planes' autopilot that led to two high-profile crashes and unrelated electrical problems that were later identified. In a 2020 Senate report, the FAA was accused of helping Boeing manipulate recertification tests to get planes back into service. More recently, on December 28, the The FAA announced was monitoring inspections of 737 Max aircraft after loose bolts were discovered in the rudder control systems of two planes.
Yesterday, He Seattle Times reported that Boeing had asked the FAA for a safety exemption for the 737 Max 7, a smaller plane that the agency has not yet certified. Apparently, the plane has a defect that could cause the engine nacelle to break. The article says existing 737 Max planes with the same defect can continue to operate as long as pilots turn off the plane's anti-icing system after “icy conditions dissipate to prevent overheating,” which could damage the nacelle. Boeing reportedly called the nacelle breakup “extremely unlikely” in its petition.
Update January 6, 2024, 3:10 pm ET: Added detail of a Seattle Times article regarding Boeing's recent request for a safety waiver.
