(NEWSnet/AP) — The emergency landing of a Boeing 737 Max jetliner with a gaping hole in its side and the airline's decision to ground identical planes is renewing questions about the safety of Boeing's best-selling plane.
A window panel blew out Friday on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 Max shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon. The rapid loss of cabin pressure pulled the clothes off a child and caused oxygen masks to drop from the ceiling.
Federal officials on Saturday ordered immediate grounding of all Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners while an inspection is done.
None of the 174 passengers or six members were injured. Pilots made a safe emergency landing.
Hours after the incident, Alaska Airlines announced it would ground its entire fleet of 65 Max 9s for inspection and maintenance.
Even a short grounding will pose significant problems for the airline and its passengers. Max 9 accounts for more than one-fourth of Alaska's fleet. On Saturday, Alaska canceled about 100 flights, or 13% of its schedule, by midmorning on the West Coast, according to FlightAware.
Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board plan to investigate the incident.
Photos showed a hole in the Alaska jet where an emergency exit is installed when planes are configured to carry a maximum number of passengers. Alaska plugs those doors because its 737-9 Max jets don't have enough seats to trigger the requirement for another emergency exit.
The plane involved in the latest incident is new. It began carrying passengers in November and has made only 145 flights, according to Flightradar24, a flight-tracking service.
The Max is the newest version of Boeing’s 737.
A Max 8 jet operated by Lion Air crashed in Indonesia in 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 crashed in 2019. Regulators grounded the planes for nearly two years while Boeing changed an automated flight control system implicated in the crashes.
After a pause following the crashes, airlines resumed buying the Max. But the plane has been plagued by problems unrelated to Friday's blowout.
In 2023, FAA told pilots to limit use of an anti-ice system the Max in dry conditions because of concern that inlets around the engines could overheat and break away, possibly striking the plane. In December, Boeing told airlines to inspect the planes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder-control system.
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