Boeing 737 MAX: are they used in Russia, disasters, danger

On January 8, the American airline United Airlines canceled about 200 flights due to problems discovered by the carrier's specialists on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. This is the fourth generation of Boeing 737 medium-range passenger airliners, which replaced the Boeing 737 Next Generation.

Part of the fuselage tore off an Alaska Airlines plane during flight

Concerns surrounding the Boeing 737 MAX emerged after the Alaska Airlines jet was forced to return to its departure airport en route from Portland to Ontario, California. The crew reported a problem with pressure – it turned out that shortly after takeoff, part of the fuselage with a window came off the plane.

One of the passengers on the flight, 33-year-old architect from Portland Nicholas Hoch, said that during the flight a strong bang was heard, after which the cabin was completely depressurized. As a result, the aircraft was filled with a cloud of smoke.

According to the man, a “gaping hole” was visible where the door had come off, and passengers’ phones and other small equipment began to fly back, with some devices even falling out of the plane. In addition, the board itself began to swing in different directions.

However, the landing of the plane with a torn part of the fuselage was successful; none of the 174 passengers and 6 crew members were injured.

Boeing CEO held back tears and admitted his mistake

CEO of Boeing aircraft corporation David Calhoun spoke in front of employees throughout the company and, holding back tears, admitted the mistake with the 737 MAX aircraft. He promised that he would provide maximum transparency during the investigation into the causes of the incident in Portland.

He and other senior Boeing executives separately addressed employees at the Renton, Washington, plant where the 737 planes are assembled, and relayed their comments to workers elsewhere.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has suspended the operation of the Boeing 737 MAX 9

Preliminary inspections indicated that the problems could be related to problems with the installation of the doors. In particular, experts discovered bolts that needed to be further tightened.

Earlier, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decided to suspend the operation of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 pending the results of an inspection, which was caused by an incident with an aircraft of this type in Portland, Oregon.

“Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers. “We agree and fully support the FAA's decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 aircraft of the same configuration as the aircraft on which the incident occurred,” Boeing said in a statement.

United Airlines, which owns 79 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, said it is working with the FAA to clarify requirements for returning all aircraft to service.

Boeing 737 MAX planes have had problems in the past

In December 2023, Boeing asked Airlines is taking a precautionary measure to inspect all of its 737 MAX aircraft for a loose bolt in the rudder control linkage after the problem was discovered in two aircraft.

By opinion CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo said the problem likely has nothing to do with the Portland incident. But overall, problems like these raise serious questions about Boeing's quality control that the FAA should investigate, Schiavo said.

Boeing 737 MAX crashes kill 346 people

The two largest plane crashes involving the Boeing 737 MAX, which killed 346 people, occurred in 2018 in Indonesia and in 2019 in Ethiopia. Then Boeing Vice President Randy Tinseth apologized to the families of the victims of the plane crashes and emphasized that the company is working to understand where mistakes were made.

Already in 2020, Boeing announced the resumption of production of the 737 MAX airliners, which had previously been suspended due to two plane crashes associated with this aircraft. The company said in a statement that the planes are being built at a lower rate than planned at the start of the program as Boeing pursues more than a dozen initiatives aimed at improving workplace safety and product quality.

Boeing 737 MAX 9 does not fly in Russia

Russians traveling within the country do not have to worry about problems with the Boeing 737 MAX, since domestic airlines do not have these aircraft in their fleets.

This was confirmed by the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviation), commented information about the suspension of operation of the Boeing 737 MAX 9. “There are no MAX 9 aircraft in the fleet of Russian airlines,” the press service of the Federal Air Transport Agency said.

How reported RBC in 2022, among Russian airlines only S7 had the Boeing 737 MAX, however, due to the impossibility of operation, the carrier in April 2022 submitted an application to the Ministry of Transport to return two aircraft of this series to the lessor.