2024-01-08 04:44:26
Detentions for inspection of Boeing 737 MAX 9 multiplied on Sunday around the world, leading to dozens of flight cancellations, after an incident on a plane of the American company Alaska Airlines which lost a door after takeoff.
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Like American companies such as United Airlines, one of the world’s first, Turkish Airlines, Aeromexico and the Panamanian company Copa Airlines have grounded their aircraft of this type for inspection, following a directive from the American federal agency. of civil aviation (Federal Aviation Administration, FAA).
According to data communicated by Boeing to AFP, some 218 copies of the 737 MAX 9 have been delivered to date.
The FAA on Saturday ordered the “immediate inspection of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft” before a new flight, specifying that approximately 171 aircraft were affected worldwide. The duration of the operation is estimated between four and eight hours per plane.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) indicated for its part that it would follow the American recommendations, while adding that this should not have an impact, no operator in Europe using the 737 MAX 9 with the options techniques concerned.
These devices “can continue to operate normally,” indicates the European agency, whose headquarters is in Cologne (Germany) in a press release.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) indicated that it did not use a device of the type to be controlled and was therefore “not affected” by the measure.
The incident occurred Friday, around 6:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. Eastern time) shortly after an Alaska Airlines flight took off from Portland International Airport (Northwest Oregon).
According to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a door opened and detached from the cabin in mid-flight. The aircraft, which was carrying 171 passengers and 6 crew members, was then at an altitude of almost 5,000 m.
Light injuries
It is a door blocked and hidden by a partition which only reveals a porthole, according to the NTSB, a configuration offered by Boeing to customers who request it.
The FAA directive also concerns models “with the middle door blocked”, according to the document published on its site.
After turning around, the plane returned to land in Portland, the incident causing only a few minor injuries.
The NTSB announced that it had sent a team to Portland to investigate the reasons for this malfunction.
United, which has the largest fleet of 737-9s in the world, announced to AFP that it was leaving 46 aircraft on the ground, 33 having already been examined.
Alaska, which had neutralized all of its 65 planes of this model even before the FAA’s announcement, clarified on Saturday on and said he had not found “any element of concern” at this stage.
Copa Airlines has suspended the operation of its 21 aircraft of this model for verification and Turkish Airlines that of the five it owns.
“It was really brutal. Barely at altitude, the front of the window came off,” testified a passenger on the flight, Kyle Rinker, on the American channel CNN.
According to the NTSB, no one was seated in the two seats next to the partition that flew away.
But according to passengers cited by the Portland daily, The Oregonian, a teenager sitting in this row had his shirt torn off by the decompression, causing minor injuries.
“Terrifying incident”
“A terrifying incident,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, on X.
“We are very, very fortunate that this did not end in a more tragic way,” NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy told reporters.
The official revealed that, according to initial analyses, the door had fallen above Cedar Hills, in the inner suburbs of Portland and called on residents of the area to come forward if they found it.
The incriminated device was certified in November, according to the FAA registry available online.
“We support its decision (of the FAA, editor’s note) to request an immediate inspection of 737-9s of the same configuration as the incriminated aircraft,” Boeing reacted in a statement sent to AFP.
The incident comes after a series of technical problems and two crashes in recent years for the 737 MAX.
The two accidents, which left 346 dead in October 2018 and March 2019, resulted in the 737 MAX being grounded for 20 months and requiring changes to the in-flight control system.
More recently, Boeing had to slow down deliveries due to problems with the fuselage, particularly with the aircraft’s rear bulkhead.
At the end of December, Boeing had delivered a total of more than 1,370 copies of the 737 MAX and its order book reached more than 4,000 units.
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