AFPThe detached panel from a Boeing 737 Max was found in a garden in Portland last weekend
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 00:48
The American airline United Airlines has found loose screws and other “installation problems” in several Boeing aircraft, the company announced in a press statement. The aircraft, type 737 Max 9, were inspected after an Alaska Airlines aircraft lost part of its fuselage during a flight over the west coast of the US last weekend. No one was injured.
All 171 aircraft of this specific type were subsequently banned from flying by the regulator FAA, and they are now being checked for irregularities. Alaska Airlines owns 64 aircraft of this model, United has 79. They are the only airlines that use this type of aircraft. The company has not yet announced how many aircraft United has now found the defect.
Warning light before
The loose screws were found near the panel used to close off part of the fuselage, where the design of the aircraft allows for an additional emergency exit. This is not mandatory for Alaska and United aircraft, because they remain under a certain number of seats. It appears that the panel in these units is not properly secured.
On Friday’s flight from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, the panel was torn off about half an hour after takeoff, allowing the plane to land safely in Portland. Alaska had previously decided to no longer use that aircraft for flights to Hawaii, across the Pacific Ocean, because a warning light had already illuminated about reduced air pressure in the cabin on three previous flights.
The Boeing 737 Max has a long list of safety problems. In 2019, there were two fatal accidents involving an earlier version of the device, causing a total of 346 casualties in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The aircraft were then grounded for about a year and a half, until they were deemed safe again.
This is what it looked like for passengers on the Alaska plane last weekend:
Alaska Airlines plane loses fuselage part during flight
2024-01-08 23:48:14
#United #Airlines #finds #loose #bolts #Boeing #Max #aircraft
