Alaska Airlines flight 1282 incident sparks safety concerns, grounding of Boeing 737 Max aircraft

livemint.com:

Boeing 737 Max 9 plane still in the climbing phase, according to various media reports. An unused emergency exit door blew out, causing a significant loss of cabin pressure and resulting in a gaping hole in the fuselage. Fortunately, the passengers escaped serious harm as the aircraft was at a relatively low altitude of around 16,300 feet, revealed a BBC report.

Key factors mitigating the impact were the use of seatbelts by passengers and the rapid descent of the plane before reaching its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet. Aviation consultant Tim Atkinson highlighted the potential severity if the incident had occurred at cruising altitude, emphasizing the risk of passengers being sucked out of the aircraft. "Passengers in the seats immediately adjacent, or in other seats around it who weren't wearing a seatbelt could have been sucked out of the aircraft", explained Atkinson, as quoted by BBC.

"I guess the worst case could be you lose a row full of people and a couple of others standing nearby as well." The incident mirrored a similar 2018 event involving Southwest Airlines, where an engine failure caused decompression at 32,000 feet, resulting in a passenger's tragic death. The immediate concern raised by the Alaska Airlines incident was the potential for similar occurrences in other aircraft. The affected door is designed to be securely bolted to the fuselage, and since the plane involved was only two months old, wear and tear seemed an unlikely factor, the report further added.