Alarming Issues with Boeing Planes

Photos by the NTSB

On Jan. 5, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 departed from Portland International Airport, headed to Ontario, California.

However, mere minutes into its journey, the wall of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft suddenly blew out, leaving a gaping hole. The cabin rapidly depressurized, causing loose items including phones to fly outside and emergency oxygen masks to drop above the passengers’ heads. The plane swiftly made a U-turn, passing over Mt. Hood Community College and landing safely in Portland again a little over half an hour after its takeoff.

Despite the harrowing ordeal, the outcome for Flight 1282 was very fortunate.

Miraculously, nobody occupied the seat immediately next to the blowout, where anyone would have likely died. Additionally, the plane was still ascending so everybody was secured by their seatbelt. If the blowout had occurred at a higher altitude, people not belted in may have been blown around or even sucked out of the plane.

In the end, all 171 passengers and six crew members survived. No serious injuries were reported, and only three people required medical attention.

An investigation into the incident was immediately launched by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). It is now clear that the hole was left when a “door plug” detached from the plane. A door plug is a seal used to replace designed holes in the airplane fuselage where optional emergency doors would be placed. On Flight 1282, a mid-plane emergency door was not required because of the more-sparse seat configuration that the airline used.

The door plug was soon recovered in one piece near Beaverton, a few miles from where it had blown out. It was found by a high school physics teacher in his backyard. The bolts that should have secured the device in place and prevented the incident were nowhere to be found, however. The NTSB said in a press conference soon after the incident that it was not known if the bolts were ever on the plane.

The phones of two passengers were also found nearby, including a phone that remarkably survived the 16,000-foot drop in good operating shape.

With the investigation underway, 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes were soon grounded, and their door plugs scrutinized meticulously. Alarmingly, bolts securing door plugs were found to be loose in several of the planes, not only at Alaska Airlines but also at United Airlines.

This discovery has raised serious questions regarding the safety of many more aircraft. It would not be the first time Boeing’s safety has been brought into question. The Boeing 737 MAX has faced a tumultuous history since beginning commercial service in May 2017. Previously, all 387 Boeing 737 MAX planes were grounded worldwide from March 2019 to November 2020, following two catastrophic plane crashes, Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, that killed a total of 346 people. Investigators found a serious navigation software flaw to be the culprit.

Amidst the investigation of the blowout, one possibility had emerged. According to a complaint filed in federal court before the incident, Spirit AeroSystems, the outsourced manufacturer of the Boeing 737 door plug, allegedly faced systemic quality control and safety problems. 

All the trouble and attention have caused both companies’ valuations to drop dramatically. Boeing’s stock price dropped 8.4% when the U.S. stock market first reopened after the incident, while Spirit AeroSystems experienced an even greater drop of 12.9% in its stock price.

However, on Jan. 24 the Seattle Times newspaper published an article incriminating Boeing. According to its report, a whistleblower claims that Boeing mis-installed the door plug following service work on the plane. Allegedly, four crucial bolts that would have secured the door plug were never re-installed. The NTSB, Boeing, and Spirit AeroSystems have neither confirmed nor denied the claims for now, but if verified, Boeing would almost certainly be at fault for blowout on Flight 1282.

So far, Boeing has pledged to assist with the NTSB’s investigation. In the meantime, we can only hope that the investigation will be thorough and transparent for the sake of aviation safety, from PDX to across the world.