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Business
FAA ORDERS TEMPORARY GROUNDING OF SOME 737 MAX JETS AFTER MISHAP
* Move follows in-flight blow-out of Alaska fuselage section
* Incident may raise fresh production concerns at Boeing
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The damaged part of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, Flight 1282, which was
forced to return to Portland International Airport on Jan. 5.Source: The
Oregonian/AP Photo
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By Mary Schlangenstein, Julie Johnsson, Siddharth Vikram Philip, and Ryan Beene
January 5, 2024 at 5:54 PM HST
Updated on
January 6, 2024 at 11:36 AM HST
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7:31
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary grounding and
inspections of some Boeing Co. 737 Max 9 aircraft, a day after a fuselage
section on a brand-new Alaska Airlines jet blew out shortly after takeoff,
leaving a gaping hole.
The move affects about 171 planes worldwide, according to a statement by the
FAA. Alaska, the world’s second biggest operator of the type, had already
grounded its Max 9 fleet in the wake of Friday’s incident after takeoff from
Portland, Oregon. United Airlines Holdings Inc., the model’s top operator, also
took some of the jets out of service for inspections.
“Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the NTSB’s
investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker
said in a post on X.
The forced grounding marks the most severe response to an incident since the
manufacturer’s entire fleet of Max aircraft was temporarily taken out of service
in 2019 following two deadly crashes. The 737 Max is by far Boeing’s most
popular aircraft and its biggest source of revenue, with single-aisle aircraft
like the Max and the corresponding Airbus SE A320neo family used on the most
widely flown shorter routes.
Only two US airlines operate the 737 Max 9 variant: United Airlines Holdings
Inc., with 79, and Alaska with 65. Alaska said in an update that it had
completed inspection on “more than a quarter” of its 737-9 fleet, without making
any concerning findings. Eighteen planes that have the same design feature as
the Flight 1282 jet recently underwent inspection as part of regular maintenance
and returned to service without a second review. The remaining inspections
should be completed in the next few days, the airline said.
Read more: Blowout of 737 Max Sidewall Seen Pointing to Quality Lapse
United said 33 of its Max 9 jets already had the inspection required by the FAA.
It said about 60 flights would be canceled on Saturday. “We are working directly
with impacted customers to find them alternative travel options,” the airline
said in a statement.
Flight 1282 was carrying 171 passengers and six crew from Portland, Oregon, to
Ontario, California on Jan. 5 when the crew reported a pressurization issue.
What followed was a rear left part of the fuselage blowing out, leaving the hole
resembling the opening for a door. The aircraft returned to Portland about 20
minutes after takeoff, having reached an altitude of about 16,000 feet (4,800
meters).
Inside the aircraft, which was delivered to Alaska Airlines only in October,
part of the cabin wall had also torn off, exposing insulation material, images
on social media showed. Video footage showed the aircraft landing in Portland in
darkness, with passengers seated close to the gaping hole. Nobody was seriously
injured.
“A mini boom or mini explosion rattled and kind of shook the plane,” said
Nicholas Hoch, a 33-year-old architect who was on the plane, adding that there
was an instantaneous depressurization of the cabin. “The best way I can describe
it is as this white vapor or cloud just rushed through the plane and, you know,
blew my head back a little bit. My hat flew off and that was jarring to say the
least.”
The cabin lights flickered and air masks dropped from the ceiling, Hoch said. No
one was sitting in two seats next to where the door blew out, or “this story
would have been a lot different,” he added. The decompression sucked the shirt
off of a teenage boy in the row before, leaving him with with some abrasions.
Others nearby lost cell phones, ear buds and other items as air left the cabin,
he said.
China’s aviation regulator is conducting an emergency meeting to consider a
response to the incident, including a possible grounding of the Boeing Max fleet
in the country, according to two people familiar with the situation, who asked
not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The aircraft variant
involved in the Alaska Air incident isn’t flown by Chinese carriers.
China was the first country to ground the 737 Max after the two crashes several
years ago. Relations have only gradually improved, with China taking the first
delivery of a larger 787 model in several years in December. It has yet to
resume 737 deliveries.
The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the matter.
Boeing said it supports the FAA move and that it was in close touch with the
regulator and with customers. A technical team from the US planemaker is
supporting the probe. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said it’s
checking if it will need to mandate anything.
Some lawmakers are seeking answers from Whitaker and Boeing on how they will
keep travelers flying on similar aircraft safe.
“America has long held the record of having the safest airspace and flight
protocols in the world, Representative Norma Torres of California said in a
letter to the FAA administrator. “That said, Boeing’s track record, along with
the FAA’s safety oversight in recent years, has raised serious, warranted
concerns for the flying public.”
The 737 Max 9 has modular fuselage layouts, allowing for emergency doors to be
installed more variably depending on the number of seats. This gives operators
greater flexibility with the cabin configuration.
On the Max 9, Boeing includes a cabin exit door aft of the wings, but before the
rear exit door. This is activated in dense seating configurations to meet
evacuation requirements. The doors are not activated on Alaska Airlines aircraft
and are permanently “plugged.”
Read More: Blowout of 737 Max Sidewall Seen Pointing to Quality Lapse
Alaska Airlines had scheduled more than 5,000 flights with the Boeing 737 Max 9
model in January, according to aviation data provider Cirium. There are 215 Max
9 aircraft in service globally, with 76 on order, including 25 by Alaska
Airlines, Cirium said.
The grounding is a major setback for Boeing, which has grappled with
manufacturing defects and costly repairs in recent years. Boeing has been forced
to fix misaligned drilling holes in the rear section of the 737, and most
recently the FAA said it’s monitoring targeted inspections of Boeing 737 MAX
airplanes to look for a possible loose bolt in the rudder control system.
The Alaska Airlines aircraft experienced pressurization issues twice on Jan. 4,
the Air Current reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. A warning
light had prompted Alaska Air to remove the jet from extended-range operations,
or ETOPs, the outlet said.
The temporary grounding, which will impact tens of thousands of customers with
canceled flights, involves almost 30% of the Alaska Air’s 227 Boeing 737 family
aircraft.
FlyDubai, which has three Boeing Max 9 aircraft, said it’s aware of the reports
and said its planes have a different cabin configuration than the Alaska model.
Inspections are expected to be completed in the next few days, Alaska Air Group
Chief Executive Officer Ben Minicucci said.
The jet didn’t appear to have suffered the type of powerful decompression that
occurred on a Southwest Airlines Co. plane in 2018 when part of an exploding
engine shattered a window of the Boeing 737-700, partly sucking a woman seated
next to it from the plane and killing her.
“While this type of occurrence is rare, our flight crew was trained and prepared
to safely manage the situation,” the carrier said. Alaska Air operates an
all-Boeing fleet.
— With assistance from Isabel Reynolds, Yi Wei Wong, Leonard Kehnscherper, Leen
Al-Rashdan, Danny Lee, and Matthew Bristow
(Updates with new Alaska statement in comment in fifth paragraph, passenger
comment in ninth paragraph.)
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