US Grounds Boeing 737s After Door Falls off Mid-Flight

0:00

/1861

1×

Facts

• The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced the grounding of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft, after part of an Alaska Airlines plane on Friday fell off mid-flight. Passengers stated that shortly after takeoff, a large chunk of the plane's outer shell 'as wide as a refrigerator' fell to the ground. The FAA has also ordered the 'immediate inspections' of all Max 9s worldwide.¹
• Further passengers onboard Alaska Airlines flight 1282 – which intended to reach Ontario, Calif. before turning back to Portland, Ore. – stated that the force resulting from the detachment of the flight's door plug ripped headrests and seatbacks out of the cabin, blew open the cockpit door and took off the first officer's headset. The National Transportation Safety Board announced on Sunday that a man had found the door plug in his backyard in Portland.²
• Alaska Airlines paused use of 18 Max 9s on Saturday, and canceled 163 (21%) of its flights on Sunday. United Airlines, a second US-based airline using the aircraft, also canceled 230 (8%) of its scheduled flights on Sunday. Among the foreign companies that have grounded Max 9s are Panama’s Copa Airlines, Aeromexico, and Turkish Airlines.³
• Max 9s include an optional extra door to complete the approved number of evacuation paths if airlines choose to install the maximum number of seats. If a plane does not max out the number of seats, 'door plugs' are used to offer flexible layouts. No passengers were sitting adjacent to the door plug which malfunctioned in this incident.³
• According to National Transport Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, the plane used for flight 1282 had not been used for long flights over water recently due to a pressurization warning light on three previous flights. Homendny added that Alaska's maintenance team was ordered to investigate the warning light, and their work had not finished before Friday's flight. It has not been confirmed if the warning light was connected to Friday's incident.⁴
• This follows the FAA's call on Boeing last month to inspect its Max models regarding a potential loose bolt in rudder control systems. A different Boeing's 737 Max model was grounded in 2019 following two crashes, killing all those on both flights.¹

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²CNBC, ³FOX News and ⁴New York Times.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by The Post Millennial. While thankfully only causing minor injuries, the potential risk involved in the incident that occurred on the Alaska Airlines flight should be discussed from a worst-case scenario perspective. Since the door plug blew out only minutes into the flight, everyone was still buckled; but if it had blown out at a cruising altitude of 30K feet, this could have been a fatal tragedy. An intensive investigation needs to take place.
• Narrative B, as provided by NBC 7 San Diego. While no one can doubt the horror of such an incident, particularly for those on board, the FAA and the airlines it oversees have taken every safety measure possible to investigate this matter and fix issues. When the 737 Max 9 is back in the air, passengers should feel safe in knowing that their aircraft has been thoroughly inspected. For now, the only worry anyone should have is over potential flight delays.

Predictions