A plane had to make an emergency landing after part of its roof came off in the air on Friday. The Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 was on its way to California with 177 people on board when the scary incident happened. The plane landed in Portland, Oregon, without any injuries. The airline said it would check all 65 of its 737 Max 9 planes for safety. Boeing said it was working to find out what went wrong.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority said it was monitoring the situation. Passengers on the plane said they heard a loud noise and saw a huge hole in the plane. They said the air masks fell and the wind was very loud. One passenger said a child lost his shirt to the wind and his mother had to hold him. Another passenger said a man’s phone flew away. One passenger said it was a “nightmare flight”.
Alaska Airlines’ CEO Ben Minicucci said he was sorry for what the passengers and crew went through. He said he was thankful for how the pilots and flight attendants handled the situation. He said he would ground 65 planes until they were inspected and cleared.
The pilot told air traffic control that they had a problem and needed to go back.
“We are an emergency, we are depressurised,” she said.
The hole in the plane was where some airlines have an extra emergency door, but Alaska Airlines does not.
The FAA said that Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 landed safely after the crew reported the pressure issue.
Boeing said they had a team of experts ready to support the investigation.
Flydubai told the BBC that their three Boeing 737 Max 9 planes were different from the Alaska Airlines ones. They had more exits in the back of the cabin. They said they had done safety checks recently.
They said they would follow Boeing’s advice when they got more information.
The NTSB is investigating the cause of the incident.
The Boeing 737 Max had a lot of safety issues in the past.
The Max was grounded for 18 months after two crashes that killed everyone on board.
John Strickland, an aviation expert, said the Alaska Airlines incident was not like those crashes. He said the 737 Max had a good safety record since it came back to service.
He told BBC News that they did not know why the hole in the plane happened. He said it had nothing to do with the 18-month grounding.
He said it was smart for Alaska Airlines to ground its planes until they were sure they were safe.
Boeing said it would speed up the delivery of 737 Max planes after solving a problem that made them inspect new planes and their inventory, Reuters reported.
Boeing data shows that they had delivered about 1,300 737 Max planes to customers.
The FAA told airlines to inspect Max models for a loose bolt that could affect the rudder.
