Alaska Airlines has grounded all of its Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft after Flight 1282 from Portland to Ontario, California, experienced a blowout of a section of the plane in the passenger cabin on Friday evening. Pilots turned the jet around and landed back at Portland, and all 180 people including six crew on board were unharmed.
The incident happened not long after the plane took off at 5:07 pm and had climbed to about 16,000 feet. The section that blew out was not an emergency door per se, but was an area that is built for a door; however, it was plugged. There was no passenger sitting next to it at the time of the incident.
Ben Minicucci, Alaska Airlines CEO, issued 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. We anticipate all inspections will be completed in the next few days.
“I am personally committed to doing everything we can to conduct this review in a timely and transparent way.We are working with Boeing and regulators to understand what occurred tonight, and will share updates as more information is available. The NTSB is investigating this event and we will fully support their investigation. My heart goes out to those who were on this flight – I am so sorry for what you experienced. I am so grateful for the response of our pilots and flight attendants. We have teams on the ground in Portland assisting passengers and are working to support guests who are traveling in the days ahead.”
Alaska Airlines has a fleet of 65 of the 737-9 MAX.
Exactly why I have such a fear of flying………….!
Yet another problem due to poor maintenance, something for which Alaska Airlines is well known?
Don’t act like you know what happened here because you clearly don’t. Alaska Airlines has fine maintenance, and this could just as well be a manufacturing defect. You probably have no experience whatsoever in aviation.
There’s no question, this is one f__d-up airplane. Combine that with one f__d-up airline and you have big trouble. You don’t have to have any “experience whatsoever in aviation” to know that. Besides, Mr. (or is it Mrs. ?) know-it-all, I only asked the question and didn’t “act like (I) know what happened”. Try engaging your brain before posting next time.
Alaska Air has had several close-call incidents in the past few months (this is the second one in Portland). Is it all bad luck (wrong-place-wrong-time)? Mismanagement? Cost cutting? DEI?
The Board needs to ask its management (and themselves) some very tough questions.
Keep going. And remember they have a stated goal of DEIing the cockpit.
A diversity hire responsible for 100s of lives and a multi million dollar airplane.
“……..And remember they have a stated goal of DEIing the cockpit……..”
I listened to the conversation between the cockpit and ATC on YouTube during this event. The officer in the cockpit communicating with ATC was a woman. She was outstanding, and obviously, so was the rest of the cockpit. ATC was also spot on. Everything was professional and impressive.
I listen to lots of aviation emergency radio communications on YouTube. Some include aircraft that don’t make it back. I do not hear crews come apart with emotion, even their last words, knowing that they’re not going to make it.
Reggie, meanwhile, our population is aging out at an unsustainable level because women no longer want to raise families anymore. Rather, they want to prove they can do anything a man can do, make lots of money and retire with cats for their family. So what if a woman is “outstanding” in an aircraft cockpit (meaning she is better than most men)? In order to be so she must forfeit the most important role in the history of the world–motherhood (of which having a baby is a very small part).
The KTUU article stated that it was a window that blew out.
I have to wonder whether the window/assembly was installed in Seattle by a person of indeterminate “gender” wearing a pink-and-lavender bodysuit with cute cut-outs. And after all, it is certainly inappropriate to ask any questions that are too confrontational, demeaning or might “trigger” someone. Maybe all genders and skin colors weren’t equitably represented in the installation process. I suspect that more diversity and inclusion training would help. Important stuff like that.
Profit over engineering, enough said. Basically the corporate example of the Republican Party.
We both know this has to do with DEI taking priority over merit. Something Democrats advocate for. We’ll be seeing more of this.
RINO, it is your beloved Democrats (sic) who are much more in thrall to corrupt corporate power nowadays. Or maybe you haven’t been paying attention?
What is your opinion of Trump making 7.9 million from foreign countries during his four years of wrecking ball presidency? Facts hurt the stupidz
I love it when stupid people make stupid posts exposing their rank stupidity.
This is a classic example.
Go home son. Adults are talking.
The CEO of Boeing was a great buddy of Donald Trumps, and guess who hid the Max issues. I have learned that while you so called Conservatives, you aren’t, yell corruption you can never prove it. But the great thing is Trumptards are easy to prove corruption on, they are too stupid to hide it.
Have you read the Emoluments Clauses of the US Constitution? Jimmy Carter put his family firm interests into a blind trust. Trump refused to do so, thus perhaps putting himself into legal jeopardy.
MRAK is not a judicial entity so how about letting it be decided by the courts?
Ironically, in light of your comment, it is actually the Democrat Party that is the most cozy bedfellow of large corporations. Republicans are generally more in support of free-market competition… which large corporations invariably attempt to stifle. It is blindingly obvious that big corporations are snuffing out the ma&pa business sector….. done with the aid of the Democrat Party. Only big business can afford the burden of government over-regulation and judicial over-reach.
RINO, actually Pally good engineering leads to respectable profits in the real world. It’s communist social and economic engineering that tends to mess stuff up.
Keep trying though, I’m sure eventually you will have something remarkable to say!
From the get-go, I refused to fly on a 737 Max. Initial issues and evidently, more to arise.
It was just another tranny blow out by the wokest airline in America.
I’m sure it would have been much worse if the airplane had not been vaccinated (sic).
Jefferson, Whether jabbed, masked 😷, woke or boosted it remains an excellent idea to keep your seat belt strapped when being hurled though the air at 500 mph. This became clear to me back in the mid eighties when that Aloha 737-100 jet became a convertible over the Pacific. Those not buckled up got sucked out roof.
Tiger, I had a good friend who was an airline stewardess (yes, I am going to say it) back in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the single biggest thing she was always impressing on me was to ALWAYS keep your seatbelt on during a flight. She was herself injured, and saw multiple very serious injuries among passengers, due to sudden, unexpected and violent air turbulence. That is aside from potential serious accidents such as this one.
Jefferson, Back in the ’80s and 90’s an excellent Airline emerged from its hickish local roots to become a real regional and eventually a National Air Carrier. This transformation was due to the leadership of Bruce Kennedy. It’s sad for many to watch the devolution of Alaska Airlines.
The current managements slavish attention to Wokesters agenda will be their undoing. It’s going to be a bumpy ride for we Alaskans, but I’m confident however that another Bruce Kennedy is in the wings and we will once again be severed by a great regional airline.
Until then, keep that belt on!
I’d rather fly on a Scarebus than a 737 MAX. Maybe I need to stop talking smack about Airbus, actually. The 777 was the last decent airplane Boeing designed. Everything since the McDonnell-Douglas merger has been trash.
Agreed, airbus used to be the fiat of the skies, Boeing has had a multitude of problems with this aircraft, glad I’m not going on any vacations soon
Brand new plane…representative of the quality we’re seeing in our new age of DEI. We can only pray that nobody’s feeling get hurt over this!
Like so much else nowadays, this latest model of the 737 is definitely ma-newer.
I’m not sure but it sounds like Boeing is responsible for this.
We need to wait for the results of the investigation and be thankful that the pilots were able to get the plane back on the ground without any fatalities. Anything more should wait until the facts are all in.
One pressurization cycle too many. Remember that flight to Hawaii back in the day?
By commercial airline standards this plane is practically brand new. This is a design flaw not an age flaw.
FAA grounds the model nationwide.
On second look, the plane was brand new. The window panel missing looks like an emergency exit doorway.
Brilliant.
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