2024-01-07 21:25:37
© Reuters. Oxygen masks hang near part of the side wall of an Alaska Airlines flight that was ripped off mid-flight 01/05/2014 Photo obtained from social media: Instagram/@strawberrvy via REUTERS
By David Shepardson and Valerie Insinna and Tim (BVMF:) Hepher
(Reuters) – U.S. authorities appealed for the public’s help as they began a daylight search on Sunday for the panel ripped off in an explosion from a new Boeing (NYSE:) 737 MAX 9 plane near Portland, Oregon. while airlines around the world keep aircraft on the ground for safety checks.
A so-called door plug ripped off the left side fuselage of an Alaska Airlines jet after takeoff from Portland for Ontario, California, forcing the pilots to turn around and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew on board. Only a few minor injuries were reported.
Installed on some planes in place of an additional emergency exit, the panel likely fell somewhere in the western suburbs of Portland but has not yet been found.
“I imagine this was an absolutely terrifying event. We don’t often talk about psychological aftereffects, but I’m sure it happened here,” National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters. on Saturday, adding that it was too early to say what caused the incident.
Homendy said the two seats next to the part of the fuselage that exploded were unoccupied. The independent US agency opened an investigation.
“We were very, very lucky that this didn’t lead to something more tragic,” Homendy said. Parts of the seat near the fuselage were missing, including the headrest.
The extra exit door is typically installed by low-cost airlines that use more seats and require additional evacuation routes. However, these doors are blocked on jets with fewer seats. For passengers, the area looks like a regular window seat.
The crash has put Boeing under scrutiny again as it awaits certification of its smaller MAX 7 as well as the larger MAX 10 needed to compete with a highly successful Airbus (EPA:) model.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suspended flights on Saturday with 171 Boeing jets that had the same panel installed following the emergency landing of the Alaska Airlines plane, which had been in service for just eight weeks. The expectation is that the measure will disrupt the flight schedules of some airlines for a few days.
The vast majority of planes of this model used in the United States are operated by United Airlines (NASDAQ:) and Alaska Airlines. Turkish Airlines, Panama’s Copa Airlines and Aeromexico also suspended planes for inspection.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Valerie Insinna and Tim Hepher; Additional reporting by Lisa Barrington and Hannah Lang)
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