United and Alaska Airlines find loose bolts in inspections of Boeing 737 Max 9s after panel blow-out

Inspection comes after panel blew off plane in mid-air, forcing an emergency landing
Josh Salisbury9 January 2024

Bolts that need "tightening" have been found on some Boeing 737 Max 9s, the model of plane where a panel blew off mid-flight.

United Airlines said the "installation issues" relating to door plugs found on some of its planes would be "remedied" before the aircraft type would return to service.

It came as US aircraft regulators, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said late on Monday it could not yet tell whether a recovered cabin panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane in mid-air last week had been properly attached.

Nearly 200 of the planes were grounded after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines-operated flight not long after taking off from a Portland, Oregon, airport on Friday, forcing pilots to scramble to land the plane safely.

Alaska Airlines has said it has since found "loose hardware" on some of the planes.

Despite the horrifying scenes, with passengers sharing footage of the gaping hole in the side of the plane, nobody was injured.

Passengers told local media that a young boy seated near the affected area had his shirt ripped off by the force of the decompression as his mother clung on to him.

AP

The panel, which covers an optional exit door, was recovered on Sunday by a Portland schoolteacher who found it in his backyard.

The large majority of Boeing 737 Max 9s used in the US are operated by United Airlines and Alaska, both of whom said they had cancelled flights in the wake of the incident.

Boeing said it was staying in close contact with Max 9 operators and would help customers address any findings during inspections.

"We are committed to ensuring every Boeing aeroplane meets design specifications and the highest safety and quality standards," the planemaker said. 

“We regret the impact this has had on our customers and their passengers."

Alaska Airlines cancelled 141 flights, or 20% of its scheduled departures, on Monday after grounding the planes, with disruption expected throughout the week, while United cancelled 226 flights.

The incident heaps increased pressure on Boeing, which has suffered from numerous production issues since a wider grounding of the 737 Max family in March 2019 after two deadly crashes killed 346 people.

Both crashes were caused by faulty software on the planes, which forced them into dives, despite the best efforts of the pilots.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in