Boeing 737 Max: Missing Door 'Plug' Holds Clues in Jetliner Blow-Out Incident

Paperwork challenges impede safety checks for Boeing jets, as US regulators search for a missing panel that detached from a 737 MAX 9 during a flight on Friday.

This comes after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Saturday ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing jets installed with the same panel after an Alaska Airlines jet was forced to make an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage.

“They will remain grounded until the FAA is satisfied that they are safe,” the agency said in a statement on Sunday. The door plug tore off the left side of an Alaska Airlines jet following takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, forcing pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew on board.

The force of the 737 MAX 9 decompression was so strong it blew open the cockpit door, according to a person briefed on the investigation, Reuters reported. The accident has put Boeing back under scrutiny as it awaits certification of its smaller MAX 7 as well as the larger MAX 10, which is needed to compete with a key Airbus model.

On Saturday, the FAA initially said the required inspections would take four to eight hours, leading many in the industry to assume the planes could very quickly return to service. Of the 171 planes covered by the order, 144 are operating in the United States, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Turkish Airlines, Panama’s Copa Airlines and Aeromexico said they were grounding affected jets.

FLIGHTS CANCELED

Alaska Airlines said on Sunday it was “just waiting for the direction from the FAA and Boeing so our inspections can begin.” The airline canceled 170 flights affecting nearly 25,000 customers and said travel disruptions from the grounding were expected to last through at least midweek.

United Airlines canceled 230 flights on Sunday, or 8% of scheduled departures, after parking all 79 of its 737 MAX 9s awaiting the inspection directions. “We’ve begun steps such as removing the inner panel to access the emergency door, and begun preliminary inspections while awaiting final instructions,” United said in a statement.

In a message to employees on Sunday, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said the company’s response to the accident must be the team’s focus right now. “When serious accidents like this occur, it is critical for us to work transparently with our customers and regulators to understand and address the causes of the event, and to ensure they don’t happen again,” Calhoun said.

The company plans to hold a company-wide webcast on safety on Tuesday to address its response. It also canceled a leadership summit for company vice presidents previously scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

SEARCH FOR PANEL

It is too early to say what caused Friday’s event, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters on Saturday. The aircraft panel is likely to have landed somewhere in the western suburbs of Portland, but has not yet been found.

The NTSB has asked the public for help finding the panel and also plans to ask commercial property owners to check the rooftops of industrial buildings in the area. The extra exit door is typically installed by low-cost airlines using more seats that require additional evacuation routes, according to Reuters. However, those doors are plugged on jets with fewer seats like the Alaska Airlines plane.

(With agency inputs)