Alaska Air Mid-Air Emergency, Forced Landing Spurs 737 Max Grounding

Sunday, January 7, 2024

In a harrowing incident on Saturday, Alaska Air Flight 1282 experienced a blowout that resulted in a gaping hole in the plane’s fuselage, prompting an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon. The plane, en route to Ontario, California, reached 16,000 feet before the cabin depressurized due to the missing panel.

Fortunately, all 174 passengers and six crew members landed safely, but some suffered minor injuries, including a young boy whose shirt was ripped off during the sudden decompression. The blown-off cabin panel fell over the Portland suburb of Cedar Hills, urging authorities to ask residents for assistance in locating it.

The Boeing 737 Max 9 involved was delivered to Alaska Airlines in late October, certified in early November, and had only been in service for eight weeks. In response to the incident, US officials ordered the temporary grounding of all 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners worldwide for inspection, affecting carriers like Alaska and United Airlines. The inspections are estimated to take four to eight hours per aircraft.

This incident raises concerns reminiscent of past safety issues with Boeing 737 Max jets, grounded globally for nearly two years after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency and several international airlines have followed the FAA’s grounding directive, with Turkish Airlines, Copa Airlines, and others temporarily withdrawing their 737 Max 9 aircraft for inspection.

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines faced flight cancellations, with disruptions expected to last through at least midweek. As investigations into the incident proceed, the aviation industry faces renewed scrutiny over the safety of the Boeing 737 Max series.

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