The U.S. aviation watchdog FAA has ordered that some of the 737 Max 9 aircraft must remain on the ground. These are aircraft on US territory and aircraft operated by US airlines. The reason is the incident with an Alaska Airlines aircraft of this type, which lost part of its fuselage on Friday evening shortly after departure. Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 737 MAX 9, which was en route from Portland (USA) to Ontario, lost part of its fuselage the size of a refrigerator more than half an hour after takeoff. The aircraft then made a successful emergency landing at Portland International Airport. The 174 passengers and 6 crew members were unharmed. The aviation authority wants to check the aircraft before they are allowed to fly again. The inspection takes four to eight hours and affects 171 aircraft worldwide. The American news channel CNN initially reported late Saturday evening that Alaska Airlines had now put 18 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft back into service after ‘thorough’ inspections. That equates to about a quarter of the airline’s Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft. The remaining inspections would be completed in the coming days. Alaska Airlines announced on Sunday that it will again ground all 65 Boeing 737 Max-9 aircraft, pending possible additional maintenance work. Earlier, “deep and thorough inspections” of the plug door were announced. The ‘plug door’ refers to a part of the aircraft’s fuselage that the manufacturer can set in place of an emergency exit, depending on the configuration requested by an airline. This is the part of the plane that swatted away Friday night, according to first-hand statements and passenger videos. Boeing has faced a series of setbacks in recent years. For example, the Boeing 737 MAX had to be grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed a total of 346 passengers. (Photo Shutterstock).
