The Alaska Airlines Boeing plane that nearly suffered a catastrophe when its door plug blew at an altitude of 16,000 feet was scheduled to undergo maintenance that night, it has been revealed.
The Boeing 737 MAX 9 with 177 people on board was forced to make an emergency landing on January 5, but a subsequent investigation revealed that there was no bolt in the door plug that went airborne.
The day before that flight, engineers and technicians were so concerned about the warning that they wanted to ground the plane for maintenance on January 5, shortly after the nearly disastrous flight. It is now clear. It was first revealed by the New York Times.
Alaska Airlines continued to operate the plane with some restrictions, the media reported, citing interviews and documents.
The airline confirmed the sequence of events to the Times, but noted that the warning did not meet the criteria to immediately remove the plane from service.
The light indicating a problem with the pressurization system has come on twice in the past 10 days, but not the third time that required immediate attention, Donald Wright, the airline’s vice president of maintenance and engineering, told the Times.
The company also claimed there was no evidence that the warning light was related to the eventual explosion.
“From my perspective as a safety officer, looking at all the data, all the leading indicators, there was nothing that would lead me to make a different decision,” said the company’s vice president of safety and security. company president Max Tidwell told the Times.
The airline said its engineers conducted a thorough maintenance on the plane on January 5 to determine why the warning light came on, based on the use of “predictive tools” rather than the number of times the warning light came on. He said he asked him to take a test.
The plane was restricted from flying long distances over the ocean or over remote areas on the continent in case an emergency landing was needed, the report said.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report last month that four bolts securing the door plug were missing before the panel was blown off the plane.
Boeing catches up on ongoing plane debacle
Boeing has recently been plagued by safety concerns that began after a door panel on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet blew off on January 5 during a flight from Oregon to California.
The plane, operated by Alaska Airlines, appeared to be missing four key bolts, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby shies away from Boeing after Alaska Airlines door explosion nearly catastrophizes, grounding the airline’s MAX 9 planes Then he threatened.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy warned the public Wednesday that mid-air door explosions like the Boeing 737 MAX 9 debacle “could happen again.”
Homendy added that it was “unthinkable” that the plane could have been delivered with four critical bolts missing, pointing to a “problem in the process”.
A week after the first accident, when a Boeing plane developed a crack in its cockpit window and was forced to make an emergency landing in Japan, disaster has struck again.
A Boeing 757 lost its front tire in late January while preparing to depart for an international flight. At Atlanta International Airport, a Delta flight bound for Bogota, Colombia, was taxiing across the runway to takeoff when another plane alerted the control tower to an abnormality.
Shocking photos later revealed that British passengers were alarmed when they noticed pieces of tape stuck to the exterior of a Boeing 787 during a flight to India. “It started peeling off during the flight. I thought, ‘What?!'” the Brit said. “I pointed it out to the young lady, and she just said, ‘I wish you hadn’t shown me that.'”
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary previously said he had “loud complaints” to Boeing about quality control.
The agency described a series of events at Boeing’s Renton, Washington, factory that may have led to the MAX 9 being delivered without bolts.
The Times also reported that the plane had been grounded about a week before the incident due to a problem with the passenger door.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said last week that in the plane’s 154 flights since entering service, small movements of the plug may have left marks and created gaps between the panel and the fuselage.
“The U.S. aviation system is the safest in the world because it relies on layers such as redundant systems, robust processes and procedures, and a willingness to stop and ensure conditions are appropriate after every takeoff.” says Alaska Airlines. said in a statement to CNN..
“We remain confident in the maintenance and safety measures leading up to the accident. We look forward to continuing to participate in the robust investigation led by the NTSB to ensure something like this never happens again.” added.
