An Alaska Airlines plane made an emergency landing Friday night (local time) in Portland, northwest United States, after a window and a piece of the fuselage fell out, the company announced.
The Boeing 737 Max 9 returned to Portland, Oregon, 35 minutes into the flight to California, after an exterior section, including a window, fell.
Flight data shows that the plane climbed to 4,876 meters before returning to Portland International Airport, according to the US agency AP.
The airline said the plane landed safely with 174 passengers and six crew members.
The hole caused the cabin to depressurize, but the company did not provide information on whether there were injuries or the possible cause.
Alaska Airlines said hours later that it had decided to temporarily ground all of its 65 737 Max 9 planes for inspections.
“Following what happened tonight with Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary measure of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft,” Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said in a statement.
Each of the planes will be returned to service after extensive safety and maintenance inspections, which Minicucci said the airline hoped to complete within days.
Boeing said it was “working to gather more information” about the incident, according to British television BBC.
“A Boeing technical team is ready to support the investigation,” declared the North American manufacturer.
The pilot told air traffic controllers in Portland that the plane had an emergency, was depressurized and needed to return to the airport, according to a recording made by the website LiveATC.net, cited by the AP.
A passenger sent KATU-TV in Portland a photo showing the hole in the side of the plane, next to the passenger seats.
Video shared with the station showed people wearing oxygen masks and passengers applauding as the plane landed.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that they will investigate the incident.
The Boeing 737 Max 9 involved in the incident rolled off the assembly line and received certification just two months ago, according to FAA online records.
The plane had made 145 flights since entering commercial service on Nov. 11, according to FlightRadar24, another tracking service.
The flight to Portland was the third of the day.
Source: TSF
