© Reuters. People sitting on an airplane next to a missing window and a portion of a side wall of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which was headed to Ontario, California and suffered depressurization shortly after takeoff, in Portland, Oregon, USA, on January 5, 2024. this
By David Shepardson, Valerie Insinna and Tim Hepher
(Reuters) – U.S. regulators said on Sunday that certain planes made by Boeing would remain grounded until they were deemed safe to fly again, as authorities conduct a search near Portland, Oregon, for a missing panel that blew up a new Boeing (NYSE:) 737 MAX 9. plane during a flight on Friday.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Saturday grounded 171 Boeing airplanes installed with the same panel after the emergency landing of the plane that had only been in service for eight weeks. “They will remain grounded until the FAA is satisfied that they are safe,” the agency said in a statement Sunday.
The so-called door plug tore off the left side of an Alaska Airlines plane after taking off from Portland en route to Ontario, California, forcing the pilots to reverse and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew members. on board, with only a few minors. injuries reported.
The panel, installed on some planes in place of an additional emergency exit, likely landed somewhere in Portland's western suburbs, but has not yet been found. Authorities have asked the public for help finding the panel.
The crash has once again put Boeing under scrutiny as it awaits certification of its smaller MAX 7, as well as the larger MAX 10, which is needed to compete with a top-selling Airbus model.
The vast majority of the MAX 9 aircraft model used in the United States is operated by United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, while Turkish Airlines, Panama's Copa Airlines and Aeroméxico also suspended their planes for inspections.
Airlines must inspect the panel and make any necessary repairs. Before U.S. airlines can begin flying the planes, the FAA must also agree to detailed inspection criteria proposed by Boeing. It was unclear whether he would do so on Sunday.
Alaska Airlines on Saturday suspended use of 18 MAX 9 aircraft that it had resumed following earlier maintenance checks by order of the FAA.
It canceled 163 flights, or 21%, on Sunday and said travel disruptions due to the flight suspension are expected to last at least until midweek. United canceled 230 flights on Sunday, or 8% of scheduled departures.
“I imagine it was a pretty frightening event. We don't often talk about psychological injuries, but I'm sure that happened here,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Jennifer told reporters Saturday. Homendy, adding that it was too early to tell. say what caused the event.
'VERY LUCKY'
The accident is the second to focus attention on the survivability of the cabins and comes just days after a collision at Tokyo's Haneda Airport between an Airbus A350 and a Japanese Coast Guard plane. No airline passengers died in any of the accidents, although the crew of the Coast Guard turboprop did die.
In the Alaska Airlines emergency, NTSB Chairman Homendy said the two seats next to the part of the fuselage that exploded were unoccupied. The independent US agency has opened an investigation.
“We're very, very fortunate here that this didn't end in something more tragic,” Homendy said. Parts of the seat were missing next to the fuselage, including the headrest.
Portland police and fire officials did not respond to requests for comment Sunday.
The additional departure gate is usually installed by low-cost airlines that use more seats and require additional evacuation routes. However, those doors are covered on planes with fewer seats. To passengers, the area looks like a regular window seat.
The fuselage of the Boeing 737 is manufactured by Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:), which was spun off from Boeing in 2005. Spirit manufactured and installed the plug that suffered the explosion, a source told Reuters on Saturday.
Sources familiar with the installation process said Boeing also has a potentially key role, typically removing the semi-installed left door panel to introduce cabin equipment and speed up production before completing final installation.
Investigators are expected to examine whether any installation defects occurred at the Spirit or Boeing plants, the sources said.
Spirit referred questions to Boeing, which did not respond to a request for comment on whether it had been involved in the final installation.
Boeing and Spirit have suffered several production issues as the aerospace industry struggles to return to normal following the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 28, Boeing urged airlines to inspect all 737 MAX aircraft for a possible loose bolt in the rudder control system.
MAX planes were grounded around the world for 20 months after crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia, linked to poorly designed cockpit software, killed nearly 350 people about five years ago.
It is also increasing production to compete with Airbus, which sources say will confirm its status as the world's largest aircraft manufacturer on January 11 with 735 deliveries last year.
