More than 170 Boeing passenger jets have been grounded after a refrigerator-sized hole opened up in a plane mid-flight.
Phones, magazines and even the shirt off a child’s back were sucked out of an Alaska Airlines service from Oregon to California on Friday, prompting concerns about the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane used by commercial airlines all over the world.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded 171 US-operated planes while officials perform safety checks. Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has demanded that all planes of the same model are inspected before entering UK airspace.
The grounding of hundreds of aircraft, which are mainly used for internal American flights, risks causing knock-on delays and travel chaos in the coming days.
Preliminary investigations on Saturday suggested that the faulty section of the plane was a deactivated emergency door built into the aircraft, but it was not in use at the time.
The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, said the two seats next to the portion of fuselage that blew out were unoccupied.
“We are very, very fortunate here that this didn’t end up in something more tragic,” she added.
Passengers said their phones and other loose items were ripped from their hands as the cabin suffered an “explosive” depressurisation and was forced to return to Portland for an emergency landing.
One toddler seated near the hole had his shirt pulled from his back as his mother tried to stop him from being dragged out of the plane’s cabin.
A passenger said the boy appeared to have lost his shirt, and his skin looked red and irritated. Flight attendants reportedly helped the mother and son move to the other side of the plane a few minutes later.
In the distress call to air traffic control, a woman can be heard saying: “We are an emergency. We are depressurised, we do need to return back.”
Pilots made the emergency landing 35 minutes after takeoff, and around 15 minutes after the section of the plane detached.
Emma Vu, a passenger on the flight, later posted her text messages to members of her family on TikTok.
She wrote: “I am so scared right now. Please pray for me,” adding: “Please, I don’t want to die.”
Evan Smith, another passenger, told reporters: “There was a really loud bang towards the left rear of the plane and a woosh noise – and all the air masks dropped.
“They said there was a kid in that row who [had] his shirt sucked off him and out of the plane and his mother was holding onto him to make sure he didn’t go with it.”
Diego Murillo, also on the flight, said the gap was “as wide as a refrigerator,” while another, Elizabeth Lee, described the deafening noise as a powerful wind tore through the cabin.
“Part of the plane was missing and the wind was just extremely loud,” the 20-year-old said. “It was honestly horrifying.”
She added that the whipping wind meant that announcements made over the speaker system were inaudible.
No serious injuries were initially reported among the 171 passengers and six crew members. One flight attendant reportedly sustained minor injuries.
Passengers who experienced the ordeal were given a complimentary flight by the airline with more leg room, and free drinks and snacks.
Alaska Airlines grounded all 65 of its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for testing, to ensure the accident is not repeated on any of its other services.
Ben Minicucci, the company’s chief executive, said: “Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections.”
“My heart goes out to those who were on this flight – I am so sorry for what you experienced,” he added.
Boeing said it was aware of the incident and is “working to gather more information”.
“The FAA is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 Max 9 planes before they can return to flight,” said Mike Whitaker, an FAA administrator.
United Airlines also said on Saturday it had temporarily suspended service on all Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft to run inspections required by the FAA.
Meanwhile, the CAA said there are no Boeing 737 Max 9 planes registered in the UK and that the impact on British travellers is therefore likely to be “minimal”.
Only in service for a month
A spokesman for the company said: “We have written to all non-UK and foreign permit carriers to ask for confirmation that inspections have been undertaken prior to any operation in UK airspace.”
China’s aviation regulator said it is conducting an emergency meeting to consider a response to the incident, including a possible grounding of the Boeing Max fleet in the country.
Images show the hole which opened up was in the back third of the plane, behind the wing, where the aircraft sometimes has an emergency exit.
Alaska Airlines chose not to configure its plane with an emergency door there, and the panel that covered the hole in the fuselage appears to have been ripped off.
The plane had only been in service for a month, having been certified in October, according to FAA records.
The incident comes fewer than three months after Alaska Airlines suffered an attempted hijack by an off-duty pilot who appeared to be suffering a psychotic episode.
Joseph Emerson, 44, later said he was under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms when he attempted to cut the plane’s engines and open the emergency exit, believing he was in a dream.
The Max is the newest version of Boeing’s 737 – a twin-engine, single-aisle plane frequently used on US domestic flights. The plane went into service in May 2017.
The model has been described as “the most scrutinised transport aircraft in history” after a series of safety issues and investigations.
Ongoing controversy
Two Max 8 planes 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. They returned to service only after Boeing made significant modifications.
About 1,300 737 Max aircraft have been delivered to customers, Boeing data show, and they are primarily used in the US by Alaska Airlines and United.
The FAA said its inspection of the domestic fleet of 737 Max 9 planes would take between four and eight hours per aircraft.
By Saturday afternoon, Alaska Airlines said it had already begun clearing some of its fleet for takeoff, after safety inspections that returned all-clear.
Other international operators that use the plane include Copa, Aeromexico, Turkish Airlines and Icelandair.
A Boeing spokesman said: “Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers.
“We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane.
“In addition, a Boeing technical team is supporting the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into last night’s event. We will remain in close contact with our regulator and customers.”
Seat belt key to survival
The Alaska Airlines incident could have been much worse if passengers had not been wearing their seat belts or quickly secured their oxygen masks, according to experts.
The jet had reached 16,000 feet when a chunk, described as the size of a “refrigerator,” was ripped off.
Anthony Brickhouse, an air safety expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University said: “This is a very, very serious situation, and it could have been a lot worse.”
He said the incident underscores the importance of passengers keeping their seat belts fastened while seated in an aircraft, even if the fasten-seat belt light is off.
“If someone had been sitting in that seat and they weren’t buckled in, it would have been a different situation.”
In previous incidents, passengers have tragically died after being fully or partially sucked out of broken windows. In 2018, Jennifer Riordan died after being partially sucked out of a window on a Southwest Airlines plane hit by debris from a blown engine at an altitude of 32,000 feet.
Passengers are also encouraged to quickly secure oxygen masks if their aircraft becomes damaged.
Prof Graham Braithwaite, an expert on flight safety at Cranfield University, said: “It appears to have happened rapidly. In this situation, the aircraft will depressurise very quickly; the air will rush out, there might be mist in the cabin, and certainly a loud noise.
“It will be pretty dramatic and scary for passengers.”
The incident would have been more severe if it occurred at cruising altitude, he added.
Depressurisation is more forceful at higher altitudes; for example, if the plane is cruising between 30,000 to 35,000 feet, and it can be more extreme on smaller flights. The larger the damage to the aircraft structure, the faster the decompression rate.
Prof Braithwaite said: “This one was at 16,000 feet, and the cabin would be pressurised between 8,000 to 10,000 feet, so the pressure difference would not have been as much as if they were at 30,000 to 35,000 feet.
“On the flight deck, they will want to descend quickly to get the aircraft down to 10,000 feet, at which people can breathe normally.”
Oxygen masks at high altitudes are essential for avoiding hypoxia. Hypoxia is a state caused by low oxygen levels in the arterial blood, leading to confusion and difficulty breathing, and if sustained, it can lead to brain damage.
He said: “When a decompression happens, it is imperative that everyone on board gets an oxygen mask on. The risk of developing hypoxia happens quite quickly, which stops people from thinking logically.”
The temperature also plummets as the cabin temperature equalises with the outside air. Additionally, air whips through the cabin, and a mist or fog can descend from the change in humidity.
Debris and unsecured items may also fly around the cabin or be ejected from the aircraft, while dust can limit visibility.
Airline staff encourage passengers to remain calm and not remove loose personal items from bags or seat pockets. They may also instruct passengers to sit in the brace position and protect their heads from loose items.
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2024-01-06 22:23:00Z
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