The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft and will keep them grounded until the agency is “satisfied that they are safe,” an FAA spokesperson said in a statement Sunday.
The Emergency Airworthiness Directive, which is impacting about 171 planes worldwide, came after a paneled-over exit door on an Alaska Airlines plane blew out mid-flight on Friday night, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon. Such directives are issued “when an unsafe condition exists that requires immediate action by an owner/operator,” according to the agency.
“The FAA’s first priority is keeping the flying public safe,” the FAA spokesperson said.
What happened on the Alaska Airlines flight?
The flight from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California was minutes into its journey and had reached approximately 16,000 feet when the door blew, a National Transportation Safety Board official said Saturday during a press briefing. The gaping hole in the side of the jet opened up where Boeing fits a plug to cover an emergency exit that the airline does not use, The Associated Press reported.
Agency Chair Jennifer Homendy called the event an “accident, not an incident.” Homendy, who would not speculate on what caused the door to blow out, said the plane was forced to return to Portland International Airport just minutes after takeoff “after a mid-cabin door plug … departed the airplane, resulting in rapid decompression.”
The two seats next to the part that tore off were unoccupied, Homendy said. None of the 171 passengers or six crew members suffered serious injuries, Homendy said.
Who is investigating the incident?
The FAA, NTSB, Boeing, Alaska Airlines, Airline Pilots Association and Association of Flight Attendants are all investigating, officials said.
The FBI is also helping local law enforcement locate parts that came off during flight. A spokesperson for the FBI’s Portland office said the agency remained “in an on-call status.”
Based on radar data, the NTSB believes the blown-out door is around Barnes Road near I-217 in the Cedar Hills neighborhood of the western Portland metropolitan area.
The NTSB has asked anyone with pictures and videos to reach out to witness@ntsb.gov.
How are airlines and Boeing responding?
In the U.S., only Alaska Airlines and United Airlines use the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft.
Alaska Airlines temporarily grounded its entire 737-9 MAX fleet, pending inspections, the company said. The airline on Saturday said it had canceled 160 flights, impacting roughly 23,000 passengers, and another 170 flights on Sunday, impacting about 23,000 passengers.
“We expect additional significant cancellations through the first half of the week,” the airline said Sunday night.
United Airlines also grounded its entire fleet of 737 Max 9 jets, the company said. The company has 79 of the planes.
A Boeing spokesperson said the company fully supported “the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane.”
Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun on Sunday told employees he will be holding a “company-wide webcast focused on safety” on Tuesday. He also canceled a leadership summit for Boeing vice presidents that was supposed to take place Monday and Tuesday to “focus on our support to Alaska Airlines and the ongoing National Transportation Safety Board investigation, and any of our airline customers experiencing impact to their fleets,” Calhoun wrote.
Past investigations into Boeing 737 planes
There are currently two versions of the Boeing 737 in service: the Max 8 and the Max 9.
In 2018, a Lion Air flight on a Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crashed into the ocean. The following year, an Ethiopian Airlines plane of the same model crashed shortly after takeoff. More than 300 people died in the two crashes. The jets were grounded in March 2019. The Boeing 737 Max was allowed to return to service late in 2020.
In April, Boeing paused 737 Max production over an issue with aircraft parts.
Homendy said after Friday’s incident that the NTSB does not suspect there is an overall design problem with the plane.
