The passengers glimpsed the abyss, but luckily they can tell it. The American company Alaska Airlines grounded all of its Boeing 737 Max aircraft this Saturday, a total of 65 aircraft, after a window and a piece of the fuselage broke off in one of its aircraft in mid-flight, shortly after takeoff, and cause depressurization problems.
The plane had to make an emergency landing after leaving the Portland airport, Oregon. The company reported that the plane, which was carrying 174 passengers and six crew members, landed safely, without any further incidents, except for a few scratches.
The Boeing Max has a very troubled history. After two Max 8 accidents, in which hundreds of people died, in the short space of a few months between 2018 and 2019, all Max were grounded around the world. This involved an extensive review period, in which various malfunctions in the computer systems were discovered.
The shadow of the tragedy returned this Friday and it is not ruled out that other companies decide to cancel flights with these devices, waiting to know the details of what caused this new incident.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was destined for Ontario, California. The company issued a statement in which it reported that one of its devices “had experienced an incident” after taking off.
A few hours later, this Saturday, the company announced the temporary decision and as a “precautionary measure” to remove the entire Boeing Max 9 fleet from service.
Boeing noted that “we are aware of the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 incident” and added that “we are working to gather more information and are in contact with our customers.”
The plane began the return operation when it was at about 4,875 meters above sea level, about six minutes after it took off. It left at 5:07 p.m. on Friday afternoon on the west coast and returned to land at 5:26 p.m. The device was new and received its certification last November. This aircraft is a modernized version of the venerable 737 normally used for domestic flights.
One of the passengers sent a photograph to an online media in which a hole was observed inside the plane, near the passenger seats. Another traveler sent images showing how a part of the fuselage was missing.
These passengers described a disconcerting experience during the 15 minutes in which the plane made the maneuver to return to the Portland airport. While the yellow masks danced above their heads, a strong wind blew through the hole, revealing the darkness of the sky and, in the background, the lights on the ground.
The crew warned that there was a pressurization problem before the landing occurred, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration, which has opened an investigation into what happened.
The Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants Association stated that “the decompression was explosive” and one of the crew members suffered minor injuries as a result of this circumstance. One of the passengers described to the press that she heard a thunderous noise and immediately observed the hole in an airplane.
“I opened my eyes and saw the yellow mask in front of me. “I looked to the left and noticed that a piece of the device was missing,” said that passenger, identified by The New York Times as Vi Nguyen. “The first thing I thought was that she was going to die,” she added.
Other witnesses reported that there was no one sitting next to the window that fell apart, but a child and his mother were in the seats next to it. The flight attendants helped them and took them out of there a few minutes later. Apparently, the boy lost his shirt and his skin was red.
“It was horrible, I almost broke down but I understood that I had to stay calm,” added a passenger.
