Head of the country's Transportation Safety Board said it was “lucky” the episode on an Alaska Airlines flight did not end in tragedy
United States federal investigators began investigating the incident with a Boeing company's 737 MAX 9 Alaska Airlines. On Friday (January 5), an explosion in a section of the plane caused one of the plane's doors to be ejected, causing decompression during the flight. The pilot made an emergency landing and there were no serious injuries.
According to Jennifer Homendyhead of NTSB (US National Transportation Safety Board), this type of incident could have had a much worse outcome, causing many deaths. “We are very lucky that this did not end in something more tragic.”he said.
Video circulating on social media shows the interior of the plane and a hole on the left side. In the images, you can see what appears to be an emergency exit coming loose. According to Alaska Airlines, the flight returned safely to Portland. On board were 171 passengers and 6 crew.
The incident was recorded when the plane was at around 16,000 feet and just 10 minutes into the flight. In the configuration used by Alaska Airlines, the additional exit door (which on other companies is used as an emergency exit) is permanently disabled. No one was sitting in the 2 seats next to the door that exploded, leaving a hole in the plane's fuselage.
Watch the video that shows the plane without part of the fuselage (1min14s):
According to Homendy, there is an identical door on the other side of the plane that remained intact. Investigators are looking for the door that fell and will look at maintenance records, the pressurization system and door components.
Initially, the Council's investigation is focused on the episode involving the Alaska Airlines plane, and does not cover Boeing's entire MAX 9 fleet. However, Jennifer Homendy did not rule out this possibility: “We will go wherever the investigation takes us”.
On Saturday (Jan 6), the North American agency FAA (Federal Aviation Administration, its acronym in English) ordered the temporary suspension of flights with Boeing 737 Max 9 planes. The decision applies to the 171 jets of the model operated by American airlines or foreign companies within the territory of the United States until inspection is carried out.
The determination was published on the agency's website (complete in English – 167 kB). According to the FAA's Emergency Airworthiness Directorate, inspections will take approximately 4 to 8 hours per plane.
Companies suspend use of the jet
Alaska Airlines was the first to decide to suspend the operation of all 65 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for safety inspections.
There are no Boeing 737 Max 9 models in operation by Brazilian airlines, according to Anac (National Civil Aviation Agency).
However, there is a foreign company that flies to Brazil using the jet: the Panamanian company Copa Airlines, which uses the plane for routes from São Paulo and Rio to Panama and the Caribbean. The company also suspended operations with the model.
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