By AUDREY McAVOY and DAVID KOENIG
Federal officials on Saturday ordered the immediate grounding of some Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners until they are inspected after an Alaska Airlines plane suffered a blowout that left a gaping hole in the side of the fuselage.
The required inspections take around four to eight hours per aircraft and affect about 171 airplanes worldwide.
Alaska Airlines in a statement said that of the 65 737 Max 9 aircraft in its fleet, crews had inspected the paneled-over exits as part of recent maintenance work on 18 planes, and those were cleared to return to service Saturday. The inspection process for the remaining aircraft in the fleet was expected to be completed in the coming days, the company said.
An Alaska Airlines jetliner bound for Ontario International Airport blew out a portion of its fuselage shortly after takeoff 3 miles above Oregon late Friday, creating a gaping hole that forced the pilots to make an emergency landing as its 171 passengers and six crew members donned oxygen masks.
No one was seriously hurt as the depressurized plane returned safely to Portland International Airport about 20 minutes after it had departed, but the airline grounded its 65 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft until they can be inspected. The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday it will investigate.
Passenger Evan Smith said a boy and his mother were sitting in the row where the panel blew out and the child’s shirt was sucked off him and out of the plane.
“You heard a big loud bang to the left rear. A whooshing sound and all the oxygen masks deployed instantly and everyone got those on,” Smith told KATU-TV.
Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said the inspection of the company 737-9 fleet aircraft could take days to complete. They make up a fifth of the company’s 314 planes.
“We are working with Boeing and regulators to understand what occurred … and will share updates as more information is available,” Minicucci said. “My heart goes out to those who were on this flight – I am so sorry for what you experienced.”
Alaska canceled more than 100 flights, or 15% of its Saturday schedule by midday, according to FlightAware. United said the plane inspections would result in about 60 cancellations.
The Port of Portland, which operates the airport, told KPTV the fire department treated minor injuries at the scene. One person was taken for more treatment but wasn’t seriously hurt.
Flight 1282 had taken off from Portland at 5:07 p.m. Friday for a two-hour flight to Ontario. About six minutes later, the window and a chunk of the fuselage blew out as the plane was at about 16,000 feet. One of the pilots declared an emergency and asked for clearance to descend to 10,000 feet, the altitude where the air would have enough oxygen to breathe safely.
‘We need to turn back to Portland,” the pilot told controllers in a calm voice that she maintained throughout the landing process.
Videos posted by passengers online showed a gaping hole where the window had been and passengers wearing their masks. They applauded when the plane landed safely about 13 minutes after the window blew out. Firefighters then came down the aisle, asking passengers to remain in their seats as they treated the injured.
Passenger Emma Vu was asleep and woke up to a sensation of falling and seeing emergency masks drop down, she told CNN in a phone call. She apparently woke up after the panel section popped off; it wasn’t clear how close to the missing panel she was.
Vu said she texted her parents their code word for emergencies to let them know about the incident. “I’ve never had to use it before, but I knew that this was that moment,” Vu said.
People sitting on either side of her comforted her, she said. “The flight attendant came over too, and told me it was going to be OK,” Vu said. “The fact that everyone was kind of freaking out and she took that time to kind of make me feel like I was the only passenger – honestly that was really sweet.”
Vu plans to take a different flight to her intended destination on Saturday morning, she said.
Elizabeth Le, of Portland, told freelance news service OC Hawk that about 20 minutes into the flight she heard a big bang and saw oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling.
“I look to my left and there’s a big chunk of the airplane just missing and it was just really loud,” Le said. “Everything was normal until I heard the boom. I’m not sure what happened, but parts of the wall were flying everywhere.”
Multiple passengers told OC Hawk that no one was screaming. They credited the flight attendants with helping to keep passengers calm.
Jessica Montoya told OC Hawk the pilot had just announced that they reached 10,000 feet when she heard a loud pop. She was about four rows away from the damage.
She said the force of the wind sucked the shirt of a man sitting next to the door off of him and his phone out of his hand.
“I’ve seen it in the movies, but this time it’s real,” she said. “By the grace of God we’re here.”
Following the incident, Vivian Najera, whose cousin Jonathan Torres of Redlands was a passenger on the flight, said her cousin and another family member received an email from Alaska Airlines stating that they received a refund for the flight, a free flight down to Southern California and an additional $1,500.
The aircraft involved rolled off the assembly line and received its certification two months ago, according to online FAA records. The plane had been on 145 flights since entering commercial service on Nov. 11, said FlightRadar24, another tracking service. The flight from Portland was the aircraft’s third of the day.
Aviation experts were stunned a piece would fly off a new aircraft. Anthony Brickhouse, a professor of aerospace safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said he has seen panels of fuselage come off planes before, but couldn’t recall one where passengers “are looking at the lights of the city.”
He said the incident is a reminder for passengers to stay buckled in.
“If there had been a passenger in that window seat who just happened to have their seat belt off, we’d be looking at a totally different news story.”
The Max is the newest version of Boeing’s venerable 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle plane frequently used on U.S. domestic flights. The plane went into service in May 2017.
The union representing flight attendants at 19 airlines, including Alaska Airlines, commended the crew for keeping passengers safe.
“Flight attendants are trained for emergencies and we work every flight for aviation safety first and foremost,” the Association of Flight Attendants said in a statement Saturday.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many Southern California flights would be affected by the FAA order.
Lauren Alba, spokesperson for Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX, told City News Service that Alaska Flight 813, a Boeing 737-9 bound for Maui, was cleared for takeoff after passing a ground inspection Saturday morning and was in the air after a delay of approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes.
After Friday’s incident, U.S. Rep. Norma Torres, D-Ontario, sent a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker demanding answers about how the agency and Boeing will address any safety issues brought to light by the problems on Friday’s flight.
“This incident endangered the lives of 177 souls on board Alaska Airlines flight 1282 and the thousands of others who may be in harm’s way on similar planes or by whose travel plans were disrupted by the precautionary groundings that Alaska Airlines has taken,” Torres wrote. “America has long held the record of having the safest airspace and flight protocols in the world. That said, Boeing’s track record, along with the FAA’s safety oversight in recent years, has raised serious, warranted concerns for the flying public.”
Torres is a senior member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, which oversees government funding for federal transportation programs.
Two Max 8 jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people and leading to a near two-year worldwide grounding of all Max 8 and Max 9 planes. The planes returned to service only after Boeing made changes to an automated flight control system implicated in the crashes.
Last year, the FAA told pilots to limit use of an anti-ice system on the Max in dry conditions because of concern that inlets around the engines could overheat and break away, possibly striking the plane.
Max deliveries have been interrupted at times to fix manufacturing flaws. The company told airlines in December to inspect the planes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder-control system.
Associated Press reporter Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report. Koenig reported from Dallas. Becky Bohrer contributed from Juneau, Alaska. Southern California News Group staff writers Nathaniel Percy and Brian Rokos and CNN’s Paradise Afshar and Tina Burnside also contributed to this report.
