US-based Alaska Airlines has grounded all of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft on Saturday following an emergency landing in Oregon involving 177 passengers.
The passengers reported that a glass panel had blown out during takeoff.
The Federal Aviation Administration reports that flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport and returned safely about 20 minutes later after cabin personnel reported a “pressurization issue.”
Images posted on social media showed the window panel of a plane blown out, with emergency oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling.
Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said in a statement “Following tonight’s event on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft.”
Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections,” he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board, FAA and Alaska Airlines each said they were investigating the incident.
The Boeing 737 Max 9 plane took off at 5:07 pm, heading to Ontario, California, before returning to the Portland airport, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
The plane was certified airworthy in October and was newly delivered to Alaska Airlines, according to the FAA registry website.
Boeing stated on X that a technical team was available to assist with the probe and that additional information was being gathered.
The multinational aviation company informed airlines in December that, while conducting standard maintenance, an international operator had found a bolt lacking a nut. This led to an inspection of MAX aircraft to look for any loose hardware on the rudder control systems.
Following two MAX 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019, which resulted in a total of 346 fatalities, Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft were grounded globally.
The aircraft’s return to service was only authorized by the FAA following modifications to the flight control system by the firm.
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