Alaska Airlines flight makes emergency landing after window blows out

[Charlot123]

John Goglia was an airline mechanic prior to joining the NTSB. I can’t remember if it’s this episode or the one before, he discusses losing experienced mechanics during covid. He thinks this will be an issue moving forward.

That’s an issue. Losing them as mechanics and also, losing their mentorship.
And, we have several reasons to lose young able-bodied and quite bright men now, besides COVID, too (((

 

[iamshadow21]

Bad run of luck/optics for Boeing in short succession.

'We have an engine fire': Boeing plane's mid-air emergency caught on camera

Investigators say they found a tennis ball-sized hole above one of the plane's engines during a post-flight inspection.

www.abc.net.au

 

[nerosleuth]

Looks like Boeing has a similar safety issue with their other aircraft models.

Boeing faces new safety alert over earlier generation of 737s

Https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/22/business/boeing-737-earlier-generation-faa/index.html

 

[PrairieWind]

Looks like Boeing has a similar safety issue with their other aircraft models.

Boeing faces new safety alert over earlier generation of 737s

Https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/22/business/boeing-737-earlier-generation-faa/index.html

The FAA is just urging airlines to inspect 737-900s since they have a similar door plug. Apparently airlines had already started these inspections and don't anticipate any disruptions.

 

[sds71]

The CEO of Alaska Airlines said new, in-house inspections of the carrier's Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in the wake of a near-disaster earlier this month revealed that “many” of the aircraft were found to have loose bolts.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News senior correspondent Tom Costello, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci discussed the findings of his company's inspections so far since the Jan. 5 incident, in which a panel on one of its Max 9 jets blew out midair on a flight carrying 177 people.


“I’m more than frustrated and disappointed,” he said. “I am angry. This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and happened to our people. And — my demand on Boeing is what are they going to do to improve their quality programs in-house.”

Alaska Airlines CEO: We found 'many' loose bolts on our Max 9 planes following near-disaster

"I'm angry," Ben Minicucci said. "This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and happened to our people."

www.nbcnews.com

 

[PrairieWind]

The CEO of Alaska Airlines said new, in-house inspections of the carrier's Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in the wake of a near-disaster earlier this month revealed that “many” of the aircraft were found to have loose bolts.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News senior correspondent Tom Costello, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci discussed the findings of his company's inspections so far since the Jan. 5 incident, in which a panel on one of its Max 9 jets blew out midair on a flight carrying 177 people.


“I’m more than frustrated and disappointed,” he said. “I am angry. This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and happened to our people. And — my demand on Boeing is what are they going to do to improve their quality programs in-house.”

Alaska Airlines CEO: We found 'many' loose bolts on our Max 9 planes following near-disaster

"I'm angry," Ben Minicucci said. "This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and happened to our people."

www.nbcnews.com

Yikes. There maybe needs to be further investigation of this, perhaps even a criminal investigation. Who is responsible for these bolts, who is responsible for inspecting them before delivery?

 

[IceIce9]

I predict that Airbus will be receiving more orders for new planes than Boeing

Airbus Beats Boeing to Win First Major Plane Deal of 2024

Taipei-based EVA Air has finalized terms with Airbus for a new fleet of widebody and narrowbody planes.

skift.com

 

[PrairieWind]

I predict that Airbus will be receiving more orders for new planes than Boeing

Airbus Beats Boeing to Win First Major Plane Deal of 2024

Taipei-based EVA Air has finalized terms with Airbus for a new fleet of widebody and narrowbody planes.

skift.com

Boeing had just received some pretty big orders. I don't know how many they will lose to Airbus, simply because Airbus isn't going to be able to deliver more aircraft. But I would expect airlines to renegotiate contracts regarding costs if the planes are out of service for these type of things. The longer picture damage is that airlines may start looking to Chinese manufactured planes etc. Boeing has to get to the bottom of why there has been such a drop off in quality control going back quite a while.

 

[IceIce9]

Boeing had just received some pretty big orders. I don't know how many they will lose to Airbus, simply because Airbus isn't going to be able to deliver more aircraft. But I would expect airlines to renegotiate contracts regarding costs if the planes are out of service for these type of things. The longer picture damage is that airlines may start looking to Chinese manufactured planes etc. Boeing has to get to the bottom of why there has been such a drop off in quality control going back quite a while.

Boeing 737 Max fallout could be a win for Airbus

Why Airbus A321XLR could take advantage of Boeing 737 Max troubles

Boeing's 737 Max troubles could create an opening for Airbus' new A321XLR narrowbody aircraft, which is expected to take to the skies early this year.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[iamshadow21]

And the hits keep coming.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/24/delta-boeing-plane-wheel-atlanta/

 

[ch_13]

And the hits keep coming.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/24/delta-boeing-plane-wheel-atlanta/

That's unfortunate. But the nose wheel coming off is almost certainly not Boeing's fault. It's likely a Delta maintenance issue. Maybe someone forgot to tighten the lug nuts. (Remember: righty tighty, lefty loosey.)

Boeing stopped making the 757 in the early 2000s, so the plane itself is at least 20 years old and probably much older.

 

[sds71]

The fuselage panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines jet earlier this month was removed for repair then reinstalled improperly by Boeing mechanics on the Renton final assembly line, a person familiar with the details of the work told The Seattle Times.

If verified by the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, this would leave Boeing primarily at fault for the accident, rather than its supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which originally installed the panel into the 737 MAX 9 fuselage in Wichita, Kan.

That panel, a door plug used to seal a hole in the fuselage sometimes used to accommodate an emergency exit, blew out of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 as it climbed out of Portland on Jan. 5. The hair-raising incident drew fresh and sharp criticism of Boeing’s quality control systems and safety culture, which has been under the microscope since two fatal 737 MAX crashes five years ago.

Last week, a different person — an anonymous whistleblower who appears to have access to Boeing’s manufacturing records of the work done assembling the specific Alaska Airlines jet that suffered the blowout — on an aviation website separately provided many additional details about how the door plug came to be removed and then mis-installed.

“The reason the door blew off is stated in black and white in Boeing’s own records,” the whistleblower wrote. “It is also very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business.”

The self-described Boeing insider said company records show four bolts that prevent the door plug from sliding up off the door frame stop pads that take the pressurization loads in flight, “were not installed when Boeing delivered the airplane.” the whistleblower stated. “Our own records reflect this.”

Errors by Boeing at Renton plant led to Alaska Airlines MAX 9 blowout, industry source says

The piece that blew off an Alaska Airlines jet this month was removed and re-installed improperly by Boeing mechanics in Renton, according to a person familiar with the details of the work.

www.seattletimes.com

 

[IceIce9]

FAA halts Boeing 737 Max production expansion, but clears path to return Max 9 to service

The FAA grounded the 737 Max 9 planes after a fuselage panel blew out as Flight 1282 climbed out of Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 5.

www.cnbc.com

The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday halted Boeing's planned expansion of its 737 Max aircraft production, but it cleared a path for the manufacturer's Max 9 to return to service in the coming days, nearly three weeks after a door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight.

"Let me be clear: This won't be back to business as usual for Boeing," said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker in a statement Wednesday. "We will not agree to any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 MAX until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved."

 

[ElizB]

127 Days: The anatomy of a Boeing quality failure

127 Days: The anatomy of a Boeing quality failure​

Reconstructing Alaska Airlines' 737 Max 9 N704AL from final assembly to Flight 1282​

In late August, a cavalcade of 737 fuselages rolled into Renton, Washington after their journey by rail from Wichita, Kansas. Each of the green-coated structures was labeled with a number, designating the sequence in which it was built at Spirit AeroSystems. One in particular, with 8789 stenciled on its side, would wind its way through Boeing’s factory in late summer 2023 becoming the flashpoint for not just another occurrence in a series of acute safety crises for Boeing, but an explosive force for change within a company that has no equal in the U.S. economy and only one true peer globally.

The Air Current has meticulously pieced together the fabrication and the journey of airplane 8789 to become N704AL, the Boeing 737 Max 9 flown on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, which violently lost a plug exit at 14,830 feet over Oregon on Jan. 5. Many crucial facts are now known to TAC. When the fuselage 8789 arrived at Boeing’s factory, the plug exit had four key bolts installed, each designed to prevent movement of the plug and the type of blowout the NTSB suspects occurred aboard flight 1282.

What comes next is the reconstruction of a mystery, including a sequence of events that has been assembled through interviews with directly knowledgeable people, and confirmed by those briefed on the situation, detailing a compounding series of quality missteps that put the lives of 171 passengers and six crew at risk. There is also a paper trail that shows the plug exit was opened by Boeing late in the assembly process to fix nearby rivets in the fuselage that had been improperly installed by Spirit AeroSystems, which provides 70% of each 737 to Boeing.

BBM, this answered most of my questions about how the plane is built, etc.

I wonder if having Boeing Headquarters in Arlington, VA rather than in Seattle near it’s main manufacturing hub is part of the problem?

 

[arielilane]

Sergio Quintana reposted

The door plug that blew off the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 was removed and re-installed improperly by Boeing mechanics in Renton.

 

[vls12345]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/26/business/first-boeing-737-max-9-with-passengers-flies-after-grounding/index.html

Boeing’s 737 Max 9 model returned to service Friday afternoon when Alaska Airlines flight 1146 departed Seattle at approximately 3:51pm local time (6:51pm ET) bound for San Diego.

It is the first revenue flight for this model since the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Boeing jets three weeks ago following a door plug blowout on Alaska Airlines flight 1282.

Alaska Airlines COO Constance von Muehlen took the flight and sat in the seat next to the door plug, telling CNN she has full confidence in the aircraft.

 

[IceIce9]

Another Boeing incident

United Airlines flight diverted because Boeing jet had cracked windshield in another flight near-disaster

A cross-country United Airlines flight was diverted Sunday because the Boeing jet had a cracked windshield, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

nypost.com

 

[LinasK]

Sergio Quintana reposted

The door plug that blew off the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 was removed and re-installed improperly by Boeing mechanics in Renton.
View attachment 478005

So why weren't these repairs re-inspected by Alaska's mechanics???

 

[ch_13]

So why weren't these repairs re-inspected by Alaska's mechanics???

This wasn't a repair. It happened during the plane's construction. There was an error made during assembly at the subcontractor's plant in Kansas. When the plane arrived at the Boeing plant in Washington the defect was discovered, but in trying to fix the original error the door was reinstalled improperly.

This was long before the plane was delivered to Alaska Air and there was no reason for the mechanics to look at that door plug in particular. (They would have had to take the plane apart to discover the problem.)

The article that @ElizB linked to above contains an excellent breakdown of what went wrong at Boeing.

 

[PrairieWind]

So why weren't these repairs re-inspected by Alaska's mechanics???

I think that type of work is outside what they do. But I may be wrong. But it was also, as I understand, done before it was delivered to Alaska, not sure they would even know. It was practically a brand new plane.