The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced the discovery of a significant portion of fuselage that was ejected from a Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft during an Alaska Airlines flight. This incident occurred as the aircraft departed from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, resulting in depressurisation and necessitating a safe return to the airport with all 171 passengers and six crew members unharmed.
According to The Guardian, following the event on Friday, January 5, US regulators took immediate action by temporarily grounding all 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft. The search for the missing plug door, a crucial component in understanding the cause of the accident, concluded successfully on Sunday in Portland’s Cedar Hills area.
Jennifer Homendy, the Chair of the NTSB, had previously informed the media that the recovered aircraft part played a pivotal role in determining the accident’s root cause. Homendy had revealed the formidable impact of the plug door’s ejection, stating that it was forceful enough to forcibly open the cockpit door during the flight. She empathised with the passengers and crew, acknowledging that it must have been an utterly terrifying experience.
Regrettably, the cockpit voice recorder failed to capture any crucial data as it had already been overwritten. She reiterated the importance of updating regulations to mandate retrofitting existing planes with recorders capable of storing 25 hours of data, a significant increase from the current requirement of just two hours.
Homendy noted that the aircraft had experienced multiple instances of the auto pressurisation fail light illuminating on December 7, January 3, and January 4. However, it remained uncertain if these incidents were related to the accident.
In response to these warnings, Alaska Airlines had taken the precautionary measure of restricting the aircraft from embarking on long flights over water, such as those to Hawaii, ensuring a swift return to an airport if necessary. This decision was made independently and exceeded the requirements set forth by the FAA.
The FAA, on Sunday, declared that the affected fleet of Boeing Max 9 planes, including those operated by carriers like United Airlines, would remain grounded until the regulator was thoroughly satisfied with their safety. Despite initial estimates suggesting that the required inspections would take only four to eight hours, the lack of agreed-upon criteria between the FAA and Boeing meant that airlines had yet to receive detailed instructions, leading to uncertainty in the industry.
The fallout from this incident included Alaska Airlines canceling 170 flights on Sunday, with an additional 60 cancellations expected on Monday. Travel disruptions were projected to persist until at least the middle of the week. United Airlines, which had grounded its 79 Max 9s, canceled 230 flights on Sunday, constituting 8% of their scheduled departures.
This accident has placed Boeing back in the spotlight, with the company awaiting certification for its smaller Max 7 and the larger Max 10 models, seen as critical for competition against a prominent Airbus model.
Recalling the events of 2019, when global authorities imposed a comprehensive grounding of all Max planes for 20 months following crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia, which were linked to poorly designed cockpit software and tragically claimed the lives of 346 people.
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