First a boom, then a rush of air: Here's what happened inside that Alaska Airlines flight
Jan 9, 2024 #alaskaairlines #news
The loud "boom" was startling enough, and the roaring wind that immediately filled the airline cabin left Kelly Bartlett unnerved. Still, it wasn't until a shaken teenager, shirtless and scratched, slid into the seat next to her that she realized just how close disaster had come.
A section of the Boeing 737 Max 9's fuselage just three rows away had blown out - at 3 miles high - creating a vacuum that twisted the metal of the seats nearby, and snatched cellphones, headsets and even the shirt off the teenager's back. #alaskaairlines #news
new developments in the investigation
into the Alaska Airlines plane after
part of it fell off mid-flight the
national Transportation safety board now
not sure the bolts that were supposed to
hold the door plug in place were ever
installed we don't know if the bolts
were loose we don't know if bolts were
uh uh in there fractured or possibly the
bolts weren't there at all Alaska
Airlines says inspections of its Fleet
have revealed loose Hardware visible on
some of its max9 and United Airlines
which operat 79 max9 planes says it also
found loose bolts on some of its door
plugs we have heard reports from United
uh Alaska and Boeing about loose bolts
we are aware of those those are being
reported to the Federal Aviation
Administration who's in charge of the
inspections uh and the mandates uh for
the repair the FAA grounding 171 Boeing
730 7 max9 in the wake of the Alaska
Airlines incident last week passengers
report that when the door plug which is
used to cover optional emergency exits
detached 16,000 ft in the air cell
phones tray tables and headrests were
sucked out of the cabin and a teenager's
shirt ripped off his seat belt had saved
his life because that's why he didn't
have a shirt on was the suction had just
torn it off no one was seriously injured
and it just happened that no one was
sitting in the two seats next to the
door plug a teacher in Portland found
the section of the plane in his backyard
what everybody was looking for in
Portland was actually in my backyard and
I was the first one to actually see it
the door plug now heading to an NTSB lab
in Washington DC to be examined there is
more than likely a problem here with the
latching mechanism or with the way it
was installed in a statement Boeing
saying it is committed to every Boeing
airplane meeting design specifications
and the highest safety and quality
standards we regret the impact this has
had on our customers and their
passengers Sher Preston ABC News New
York