Saturday, January 6, 2024

Alaska Airlines grounds 737 Max fleet after fuselage blowout

Ya think?

An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport on Friday night after a large section of the aircraft blew out in mid-air, according to several passengers.



Dramatic photos sent to us by one passenger on the plane, who wished to remain anonymous, show a large section of the airplane’s fuselage missing.

At 7:26 p.m. (PST) Alaska Airlines posted on X/Twitter that they were “aware of an incident” aboard their flight AS1282 and said they would release more information as it becomes available. Alaska confirmed to KPTV via email that 174 passengers and 6 crew members were aboard the flight.



One passenger we talked to at the airport said that a kid had to be held in his seat by his mom and people lost their phones which were sucked out of the plane.

That same child closest to the damaged part of the plane lost his shirt due to the violent and sudden depressurization but otherwise everyone on board appeared to be OK, according to a passenger.

The flight was headed from PDX to Ontario, California. It departed Portland at 4:40 p.m. and was back on the ground in Portland around 5:30 p.m.

22 comments:

  1. "If it's not Boeing, I'm not going" has become "If it's Boeing, I'm not going"

    Between quality issues with the P-8, KC-46, AF One (including tools and empty miniature booze bottles found inside closed areas of the airframe), and the B737 Max MCAS issue, Boeing has become a joke.

    That's what moving a successful enginering business to Chicago and then DC does to you.

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    1. What? Versus the Airbus flying anvils?

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    2. Boeing's headquarters were moved after the bean-counting MBAs took over. It is no longer an engineering company making money but a money producing entity that tries to do some engineering work.

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    3. Nicky Haley will fix Boeing when she's prez. Sarc

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    4. Hey, BillB - is that the same bunch of bean counters that destroyed Remington?

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    5. Read Michael Crichton's "Airframe" for some disappointing insight into how that whole commercial aircraft business is put together. I'll never fly commercially again. He writes dam good books.

      https://www.amazon.com/Airframe-Novel-Michael-Crichton/dp/0345526775

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  2. Can't help but wonder if this is a result of our workforce dumbing down and just no longer caring.
    Only there to get a paycheck.

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  3. It'll be interesting to see where on the fuselage this is. The Max 737 has had problems starting from Day 1 of engineering & design, and they (apparently) haven't gotten any better. This is what happens when Engineering Management moves away from the factory floor and re-locates in the financial / political centers, because they imagine that influence and white collar stroking are more important. You end up with a major revision to a time-tested airframe that consists of work-arounds.

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  4. I know people that build those things & I ain't flying in them.

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    Replies
    1. Ever heard a song called "building chryslers" by the bottle rockets? Great look into the philosophy of the average guy on the line in America. Funnier than a fart in church, too.

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  5. It's the door in the aft left fuselage, which is used when the aircraft is in combi configuration with freight up front. This particular plane is in passenger only configuration so the door was covered over on the inside by the sidewall.
    Boeing needs to get their act together, this should be impossible.
    Al_in_Ottawa

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  6. I would hate to have my name on the plats as one of the builders.

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  7. Spirit AeroSystems (Boeing spin-off company) is the subcontractor that makes the 737 fuselages

    I wouldn't be surprised if they found a couple of empty beer bottles and some empty fentanyl wrappers in the plane's fuselage wall when rooting around.

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  8. Pray for the 20-30 passengers in the nearby rows.
    Doctors are still at work diligently trying to get their seat cushions out of their @$$cheeks half a day later.
    The pucker factor is off the charts.

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    Replies
    1. shut up asshole

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    2. That was funny, Anonymous asshole, STFU. Aesop sometimes rubs me wrong, be he got it right with a little humor.

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    3. Now THAT is a window seat ...

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  9. exactly. Not "a part of the fuselage". A door failed.

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  10. blancolirio is on the case -
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9EvHpf8jZg

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