What to know about Boeing's 737 Max 9 and the FAA grounding
Boeing 737 Max 9 jet in Portland, Oregon, led the Federal Aviation Administration to order some U.S. airlines to stop using some Max 9 planes until they are inspected. The order will affect about 171 planes owned by Alaska, United and other airlines. The episode also raised troubling new questions about the safety of a workhorse aircraft design dogged by years of problems and multiple deadly crashes.
No one was seriously injured in Friday's incident. The jetliner returned to the airport shortly after the plane's fuselage broke open in midair, leaving a door-size hole in the side of the aircraft.
Within hours of the episode, Alaska Airlines said it would ground all 65 of the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft in its fleet until mechanics could carefully inspect each plane. Later on Saturday, the FAA ordered the temporary grounding of planes in some other airlines' fleets.
The National Transportation Safety Board also said it was investigating the cause of the incident. Jessica Kowal, a spokesperson for Boeing, said in a statement, «We agree with and fully support the FAA's decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane.»
And although the particular technical issue that led to Friday's scare appeared unique, Boeing's 737 Max airliners have perhaps the most worrisome history of any modern jetliner currently in service.
Boeing faces new questions about the 737 Max after a plane suffers a gaping hole in its side
What happened Friday?
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which was carrying 171 passengers and six crew members bound for Ontario, California, made an emergency landing at the Portland airport on Friday evening 20 minutes after takeoff.
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