I haven't written about the engineering and business mess of Boeing for a while.
After the 2019 737 Max failures that downed two airplanes and killed all inside, the company promised to change its culture. But it has since seen several production stops for quality and flight security issues on several of its manufacturing lines. There are still undelivered 737 MAX and 787 planes mothballed on various airports around Seattle.
And now comes this:
Pete Muntean @petemuntean – 4:20 UTC · Jan 6, 2024
NEW IMAGE from on board Alaska Airlines 1282 after ***part of the fuselage*** blew out mid-flight. Successful emergency return to Portland after 20 minutes in the air. 10-week-old (!) Boeing 737 Max 9. NTSB investigating.
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There is video from inside the plane as it was landing. Oxygen masks had been deployed when the plane depressurized. The women filming says that there was thankfully no one seated next to where the hull was breached. If there had been that person would likely have died.
R A W S A L E R T S @rawsalerts – 3:35 UTC · Jan 6, 2024
🚨#BREAKING: Alaska Airlines Forced to Make an Emergency Landing After Large Aircraft Window Blows Out Mid-Air
A forced emergency landing was made of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 at Portland International Airport on Friday night. The flight, traveling from Portland to Ontario, California, faced severe depressurization, causing the ejection of a large window section and an unoccupied seat. This incident resulted in a child's shirt being ripped off. The Boeing 737-900/-9MAX aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 16,300 ft before safely returning to Portland International Airport. As of now, it remains unclear if anyone on board the flight was injured, as this story is still developing.
It was not just the emergency exit door that was ripped out. (Such window emergency doors only open towards the inside of the plane.) The whole section around the emergency exit door departed.
I have since learned that this was indeed the place of a special emergency exit that, when installed, opens to the outside. This is 'plugged' on lower density planes that do not need it.
That points to a serious manufacturing issue at the hull builder that had not been caught by quality control.
All passengers and the crew survived and the plane landed safely. Alaska Air has grounded its 65 strong fleet of 737 MAX 9. Other airlines should follow.
The Seattle Times has the details:
The neat rectangular hole that appeared in the fuselage was located at the position where Boeing fits a plug to seal a door opening that is not used as a door by most airlines and by no U.S. carriers.
An emergency exit door is installed in that location only for jets going to low-cost carriers like Ryanair who cram in additional seats that require an extra emergency exit. Otherwise, the hole is sealed with a plug and from the inside it is covered by a sidewall so that to a passenger it looks like a normal window, not a door opening.
This plug, halfway between the over-wing exit and the door at the rear of the plane, is present only on the largest versions of the 737.
It’s fitted on the previous generation 737-900ER and the same design is on the 737 MAX 8-200, the high density version for low-cost carriers, as well as the MAX 9 and MAX 10.
It is not present on the MAX 7 or MAX 8.
"Well, the plug got pulled …"
Just last week we also got this:
Boeing instructed customer airlines to inspect their 737 Max jets for loose bolts, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Thursday.
The request comes after the manufacturer discovered two aircraft with missing bolts in the rudder control system, raising concerns about faults across all aircraft.
“The issue identified on the particular airplane has been remedied,” Boeing told CNN in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are recommending operators inspect their 737 Max airplanes and inform us of any findings.”
Yesterday the Seattle Times also reported:
Boeing wants FAA to exempt MAX 7 from safety rules to get it in the air
Little noticed, the Federal Aviation Administration in December published a Boeing request for an exemption from key safety standards on the 737 MAX 7 — the still-uncertified smallest member of Boeing’s newest jet family.
Since August, earlier models of the MAX currently flying passengers in the U.S. have had to limit use of the jet’s engine anti-ice system after Boeing discovered a defect in the system with potentially catastrophic consequences.
The flaw could cause the inlet at the front end of the pod surrounding the engine — known as a nacelle — to break and fall off.
In an August Airworthiness Directive, the FAA stated that debris from such a breakup could penetrate the fuselage, putting passengers seated at windows behind the wings in danger, and could damage the wing or tail of the plane, “which could result in loss of control of the airplane.”
…
One hopes that the FAA and Congress will finally get serious with Boeing. They must stop giving it all those lazy exceptions for issues that better (but more expensive) engineering can easily solve.