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after window blows out mid-flight as child who sat near hole loses shirt.
The flight turned into a nightmare when a section of the plane blew out mid-flight, reportedly sucking out passengers’ belongings and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in Portland.
Passengers described the chaos as people’s cell phones and belongings were sucked out of the gaping hole in the plane.
Photos are showing the massive chunk missing in the plane’s fuselage.
The Boeing 737-9 Max was recently built, obtaining its airworthiness certificate on Oct. 25., 2023
The aircraft actually lost a panel covering an unused exit door.
The purpose is an emergency exit but only used for high density configuration of the 737-9 MAX and not used by Alaska Airlines. This unused exit door was covered by a panel inside the cabin to prevent access to the release mechanism.
Luckily they were only at 16,000 feet at a higher altitude we'd be talking about an accident not an incident. Another bit of good fortune is that the panel was behind the wing, so that when it departed the aircraft it didn't contact the leading edge or get sucked into an engine. Of course it could have struck the horizontal or vertical stabilizer, have not heard whether that happened or not.
I never heard of a potential means of egress being blocked off. Sure, the cost of the exit door would be slightly more expensive than a plug, but it would be a shame if passengers got trapped inside during to a fire when there was a potential exit nearby.
I never heard of a potential means of egress being blocked off. Sure, the cost of the exit door would be slightly more expensive than a plug, but it would be a shame if passengers got trapped inside during to a fire when there was a potential exit nearby.
I would guess that the seating arrangement and layout can be customized according to the aircraft’s specific use and needs that are determined by the carrier/user? I’m sure the plane conformed to all of the required egress and safety requirements.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GearHeadDave
The aircraft actually lost a panel covering an unused exit door.
The purpose is an emergency exit but only used for high density configuration of the 737-9 MAX and not used by Alaska Airlines. This unused exit door was covered by a panel inside the cabin to prevent access to the release mechanism.
Luckily they were only at 16,000 feet at a higher altitude we'd be talking about an accident not an incident. Another bit of good fortune is that the panel was behind the wing, so that when it departed the aircraft it didn't contact the leading edge or get sucked into an engine. Of course it could have struck the horizontal or vertical stabilizer, have not heard whether that happened or not.
This was a fortunate incident, and wise to ground their Max 9 fleet, since this is a very 'new' aircraft.
Yesterday my max flight had 8 exits (no blocked off panels).
That's quite a few for 178 passenger configuration.
Of course that number of removable doors / penetrations is cause for more points of mechanical fatigue or failure.
Might want to consider shorting your BA stock (if you have any).
Unless there had been impact or damage to this area. Boeing is again in the direct line of blame. Very few pressurization cycles on this airframe.
I would guess that the seating arrangement and layout can be customized according to the aircraft’s specific use and needs that are determined by the carrier/user? I’m sure the plane conformed to all of the required egress and safety requirements.
This is correct. Of course this configuration with the unused exit had been certified and conformed to the requirements. It will be interesting to follow this one along as they determine root cause. Since this was a relatively new plane there were not many pressurization cycles, and it makes it less likely to be a fatigue failure. I am sure there is an intense search on the ground as they will need that hardware to do a full forensic investigation.
Early this morning, our maintenance team began a detailed inspection process in connection with our decision to temporarily ground our fleet of Boeing 737-9 aircraft. Of the 65 737-9 aircraft in our fleet, it was determined that 18 had in-depth and thorough plug door inspections performed as part of a recent heavy maintenance visit. These 18 aircraft were cleared to return to service today.
The inspection process of the remaining 737-9 aircraft is expected to be completed in the next few days. We will provide additional updates on the progress of our inspections.
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