NTSB says no passengers seated near Boeing 737 MAX 9 fuselage that failed
By David Shepardson, Valerie Insinna and Tim Hepher
(Reuters) -The head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said no passengers were seated next to a cabin panel that blew out on an Alaska Airlines Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 MAX 9, forcing an emergency landing Friday in a potentially «tragic» incident.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told a press conference late on Saturday the two seats next to the portion of fuselage that blew out were unoccupied.
«We are very, very fortunate here that this didn't end up in something more tragic,» Homendy said. Parts of the seat next to the fuselage, including the head rest, were missing.
U.S. air safety regulator the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Saturday grounded 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 jetliners for safety checks after the emergency landing of the plane that had been in service for just eight weeks.
A piece of fuselage tore off the left side of the jet as it climbed following takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, forcing pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew on board. Some minor injuries were reported, Homendy said.
The FAA did not rule out further action as a probe began into the potential structural failure that left a rectangular hole in an area of fuselage reserved for an optional extra door but which is plugged and deactivated on Alaska Air (NYSE:ALK)'s aircraft.
Investigators will look at maintenance records, the pressurization system and the door components, Homendy said. «We'll go where the investigation takes us,» she said, asking for the public's help in recovering the missing door plug believed to be in a suburb west of Portland.
Homendy praised the FAA for swiftly grounding the MAX 9 to «ensure
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