The aviation world is impacted by the implosion of the window/door in the Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon to California on Friday, 5 January 2024. The incident forced the plane to make an emergency landing. The airline was flying a Boeing 737 Max 9.
Arajet, the emerging Dominican Republic-based airline, uses the smaller Boeing 737 Max 8s.
And several airlines flying to the Dominican Republic use the 737 Max 9. Several have discontinued their operation as the case is being investigated.
The USA’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded all 171 Boeing 737 Max 9’s in the United States for further inspection after a piece of fuselage blew off the Alaska Airlines airplane in mid-air. The NTSB said they are in the fact-finding phase of the probe.
The incident forced the plane to make an emergency landing. There were no injuries.
The FAA has temporarily grounded scores of Boeing 737 MAX 9 jetliners.
The National Transportation Safety Board has revealed that Alaska Airlines had concerns about the plane before the incident but kept flying it.
The smaller version of the airplane (the Max 8) had two catastrophic crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people when faulty flight control systems put the planes into nosedive.
On the recent implosion, aviation expert Ed Pierson, a former senior manager at Boeing, criticizes the company. “This is a tip of the iceberg type situation,” he said, adding he left the company over its “unacceptable” business practices that prioritize production over safety.
In the Dominican Republic, the president of the Civil Aviation Board (JAC), Jose Marte Piantini said that airlines flying 737-Max 9s to Dominican airports are: United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Air Europa, Air Canadá, Aerorepública, Copa Airlines, Colombia-Wingo. Marte Piantini said that from January to December 2023 some 14,376 flights moved 2,376,946 passengers on the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft now under investigation.
Read more:
Fox Oregon
Democracy Now
Morning Star
CBS News
9 January 2024