US temporarily suspends Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes as part of fuselage breaks off mid-flight By Reuters

2024-01-06 21:25:38

© Reuters. Boeing 737 MAX-9 plane under construction at a production facility in Renton, Washington 02/13/2017 REUTERS/Jason Redmond

By David Shepardson and Valerie Insinna and Tim (BVMF:) Hepher

(Reuters) – North American regulators temporarily grounded 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 flights after a cabin structure panel exploded out of the aircraft on Friday night and forced the new plane operated by Alaska Airlines to make a landing. of emergency.

“The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9s before they can return to flight,” said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker on Saturday.

“Safety will continue to be at the core of our decisions as we assist the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.”

The FAA has required immediate inspections of certain planes before they can return to flight. The order affects 171 planes worldwide.

The piece of fuselage came loose from the left side of the aircraft as it climbed as it left Portland, Oregon, bound for Ontario, California, forcing the pilots to turn around and safely land the plane with 171 passengers. and six crew on board. The MAX 9 had been in service for just eight weeks.

This is the latest problem involving the manufacturer’s best-selling model, which had its entire fleet grounded for almost two years after accidents in 2018 and 2019. The incident occurs at a time when Boeing (NYSE:) and a important supplier are facing a series of production or quality problems. There were no immediate indications of the cause of the apparent structural failure, nor were there any reports of injuries. The NTSB, the body that investigates air accidents in the USA, said that a team of experts in structures, operations and systems will arrive at the scene this Saturday to begin investigations. Boeing said it is working to gather more information and is in contact with the airline. (Reporting by David Shepardson, Valerie Insinna and Tim Hepher; additional reporting by Akanksha Khushi)