No passengers were seated near the “plug door” panel that detached during a flight from Oregon to Southern California on Friday, as stated by the NTSB’s board chair.
On Friday night, there was a concerning incident as a section of a Boeing plane broke during an Alaska Airlines flight at 16,000 feet. Fortunately, on Saturday night, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stated that a disaster was averted.
The plane had an issue with a part called a door plug breaking, but fortunately, the seats nearby were empty. The plane was flying at 16,000 feet, so people were likely sitting with their seatbelts on, according to National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy in a news conference on Saturday night.In the incident, headrests detached from two nearby seats, one seat lost its back, and there was clothing left in the area. This led to chaos as the cabin lost pressure, as explained by Homendy.
We’re really fortunate that this didn’t turn into something worse,” mentioned the NTSB chair. “No one was in seats 26A and 26B, where the door plug is located.”
The plane was only 10 minutes away from departing Portland International Airport when a piece broke off at 6:38 p.m. on Friday. There were 171 passengers and six crew members on board.
As the part broke, the cabin quickly lost air, creating a large hole on the left side of the plane, as explained by Homendy.
For the passengers on the plane, the incident must have been truly frightening,” she noted.
The 737 Max 9 was en route to Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino County, California, but had to return to Portland for an emergency landing, according to authorities.
The incident occurred “just 10 minutes after takeoff,” said Homendy.
Authorities are still in the process of searching for the door plug, believing it fell in the community of Cedar Hills, approximately 7 miles west of downtown Portland.
The airplane faced a problem, causing the cabin to lose air rapidly, but fortunately, no one suffered serious injuries. Some passengers had minor injuries.
If the plane had been at its usual cruising altitude higher up in the sky, the situation could have been much worse with people standing or moving around.
The incident could have been more severe, but thankfully, it wasn’t. The problem led to a fast loss of air in the cabin, resulting in some people feeling dizzy or unconscious.
Videos from inside the plane revealed masks dropping down from the ceiling to assist with the lack of air.
The plane was flying at 16,000 feet and safely landed on the ground on Friday. According to an FAA official mentioned to NBC affiliate WFLA in Tampa, Florida last year, it’s generally considered safe for passengers without extra oxygen up to around 12,000 feet.
The NTSB is leading the investigation and will start a full inquiry on Sunday, as stated by Homendy. She emphasized refraining from speculating about the cause until more information is known.
Alaska Airlines, which operates 65 Boeing aircraft, initially grounded all of them. After inspecting and clearing 18 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, they were supposed to resume service. However, the FAA issued an emergency directive, ordering around 171 of these planes to be grounded for inspections with specific criteria. As a result, Alaska decided to keep the 18 planes grounded until they pass inspections under the FAA directive.
This situation led to the cancellation of 160 flights, affecting approximately 23,000 passengers, according to Alaska Airlines.