The United States Federal Aviation Administration has said in a statement on Thursday that the incident after a panel known as a door plug blew out of the an Alaska Airlines-operated 737 Max 9 jet, causing a gaping hole, shortly after takeoff from the western US state of Oregon should have never happened.
There were no fatalities or serious injuries after Alaska Airlines safely executed an emergency landing in the January 5 incident, but investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have said the incident could have resulted in serious harm.
The FAA probe – which could result in a financial penalty on Boeing – marks an escalation by the agency following the first major in-flight safety issue on a Boeing plane since the fatal 2018 and 2019 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people and led to all aircraft being grounded for nearly two years.
The FAA also said according to a letter to the company that gave it 10 days to respond, it was investigating additional discrepancies on other Boeing 737-9 airplanes.
Join our twitter community :