Back on Friday evening Flight 1282 of Alaska Airlines took off from Portland Oregon Airport. The Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft has only been in service for a few months and just under 100 flights in commercial service. Thirty minutes in as it surpassed 10,000 feet at 16,000 feet the unthinkable happened.
A large panel on the left side is the size of a door. Where a door plug was in place over the panel. This is where the door would have been but, redesigned and plugged for more capacity in seating on the aircraft. A very loud bang was heard as a section of aircraft ripped away from the fuselage. A rapid descent to 10,000 feet a violent and scary descent to this flight level. Below 10,000 feet less stress and pressurization stressing the aircraft also where oxygen is breathable without masks needed. The flight returned back to Portland International airport, Oregan and landed safely where airport rescue and fire firefighting trucks were near the runway waiting for the plane.
A few days after some things have come to light this Monday January 8 2024. The NTSB have subsequently found out there was a auto pressurization warning light that came on flights before this. On December 7, 2023, January 3 and 4 2024 where the pressurization light showed problems. At this juncture Alaska Airlines slotted the aircraft to be inspected but before this was done it was still flying.
The airline therefore downgraded the aircraft from flying ETOPS , As be it a ETOPS restriction meaning it could not be flown to Hawaii in case it had to be flown back to an airport if there was a problem. Obviously, there was a problem as this incident occurred Friday January 5, 2024. This is the day after two days in a row a problem was reported in the cockpit with a auto pressurization warning light.
Furthermore, finally the door plug a section of the left rear fuselage was found as a school teacher called Bob called in to the NTSB to notify then he found the part in his backyard.
Also reported the CVR which is the Cockpit voice recorder was completely overwritten so there is nothing to be heard from investigating authority NTSB. This is an ongoing investigation, but these are the known facts as of now, subsequently by the end of Saturday night all Boeing 737 max9 aircraft were ordered by the FAA to be grounded further inspection to this problem. Some airlines like united Airlines have stated it takes up to eight overs for a certain inspection to take. in order for it to pass for future flying. This is an ongoing investigation we will see what transpires moving forward.
Source Fire and Aviation TV January 8, 2024