[NomadSK]

It shows the importance of being belted in the aircraft all the time, irrespective of the belted sign on or off.

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

Link here

[airbus]

It is reported that deactivated "rear mid-cabin exit door assembly separated from an Alaska Airlines 737-9 MAX" - Alaska Airlines 737-9 MAX exit door separates in flight.

On the 737-9 MAX, Boeing includes a rear cabin exit door aft of the wings, but before the rear exit door. This is activated in dense seating configurations to meet evacuation requirements. The doors are not activated on Alaska Airlines aircraft and are permanently “plugged.”

[itwasntme]

What is going on? Amazing that multiple stewardesses and passengers weren’t sucked out of that gaping hole. Barely a month old aircraft. Hope it won’t lead to another MCAS mess for Boeing.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/06/u...ing/index.html

[vharihar]

While last week's JAL incident inspired confidence in Airbus (A350-900) aeroplanes, today's incident of Alaska Airlines involving a Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft cabin door being ripped off mid-flight, hurts confidence in Boeing.

In my recollection, there have been several incidences over the past decade where Airbus has proved superior to Boeing.

[libranof1987]

Alaska Airlines has grounded its entire fleet of 65 737-9 Max planes, after this incident. This plane was most likely manufactured just about two months ago, so unless it went through an incident or repair in this short while, was as good as mint condition.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/06/u...ing/index.html

Originally Posted by airbus

deactivated "rear mid-cabin exit door

Thanks, didn't know about this. On the inside, are such doors markedly different from those that open? In a state of panic/emergency, you'd run to the nearest door, and not necessarily remember if that's the one that doesn't open.

[itwasntme]

No Indian airline operates the 7M9 but Akasa, Spice & AI Express have been directed to check their 7M8s as a precaution.

https://m.timesofindia.com/india/ala.../106599726.cms

One flying over Agra as we speak!

[airbus]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

On the inside, are such doors markedly different from those that open? In a state of panic/emergency, you'd run to the nearest door, and not necessarily remember if that's the one that doesn't open.

I believe, inside will look like a window with some extra gap from nearest windows. Passengers will not know that there is a door behind that panel and will not be marked as an exit. Looks like after the door was detached, entire inside panel was sucked out.

[narayans80]

The door seems to have cleanly ripped off the fuselage once the pressure outside dropped below the pressure inside.

Must have been terrifying for those sat in that exit row.

Given the flight was at FL 150 and the Mayday call happened when they were given the instruction to climb to FL 230. Seat belts sign musn't have have been turned off.

One key question: Why did it happen this particular flight? Given the time of the accident (evening PST) and source airport (Portland, Oregon for an Alaska Air), this must not be the first flight of the day.

The event is eerily similar to British 5390 where the pilots' window was ripped out due to incorrect maintenance.

[fhdowntheline]

What if the door section would have been ripped off at 39000 feet instead of 15000 feet? How would the rest of the airframe deal with that? The 737 is a nearly 60 year old design that is way past its due date. Whatever extension plugs and engine boosts you give it doesnt change things much. It was good up until the 737-800, which was already a stretch. Not beyond that !

[libranof1987]

Now, DGCA has asked Indian carriers that operate the 737-8 Max aircraft to conduct a one-time inspection of the emergency exits. No Indian carrier has the 737-9 Max aircraft; the ones that operate the 737-8 Max are Spicejet, Akasa and AI Express.

Considering Akasa only operates the 737 Max, and troubles of Spicejet, this might just make things slightly more chaotic in India.

Source

[vij]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

What if the door section would have been ripped off at 39000 feet instead of 15000 feet? How would the rest of the airframe deal with that? The 737 is a nearly 60 year old design that is way past its due date. Whatever extension plugs and engine boosts you give it doesnt change things much. It was good up until the 737-800, which was already a stretch. Not beyond that !

Even if the airframe stayed intact above 30000, at that height O2 deprivation even for a short period can cause some form of brain damage.

[airbus]

From the NTSB Media Brief - Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 (Jan 6):

• Based on substantial damage, it is an accident not an incident.
• The particular aircraft for Alaska is certified for up to 189 passengers and Alaska has only 178 seats on that plane. So, rear cabin exit doors aft of the wings are not required. These additional doors are provided for higher density seating configuration with 215 or more seats.
• Fortunate that it did not end up in something more tragic. No one was seated on 26A and 26B, next to that door plug. The aircraft was at around 16,000 feet altitude and only 10 minutes into the flight.
• NTSB is requesting public to help in locating the detached door and also with photographs/videos from inside the plane.

[NomadSK]

Just a noob question for aviation experts on the forum;

We know This wasn’t the first flight of the aircraft. So it had attained the cruising altitude many times before this incident. And the airframe would have noticed much higher differential pressure as compared to the altitude where the incident happened. The door/window exploded outwards at an elevation which was way below the cruise level. At cruising altitude differential cabin pressure would have been enormous as compared to where it happened. Also Assuming no Maintenace of the door/window section was carried out, since aircraft is considerably new.

So my question, is it possible to have the opposite of the “Helios flight”, where pilot at ground wanted to test the seals, closed the bleed valve to test pressurisation of the cabin and eventually forgot to release the pressure bleed valve which over pressurized the cabin resulting into the incident ?

Any possibility of this happening ? Would like to know some expert’s opinion on this.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by NomadSK

So my question, is it possible to have the opposite of the “Helios flight”, where pilot at ground wanted to test the seals, closed the bleed valve to test pressurisation of the cabin and eventually forgot to release the pressure bleed valve which over pressurized the cabin resulting into the incident ?

Unlikely. There are rumours that this particular aircraft had suffered intermittent pressurization issues on it's earlier flights.
https://theaircurrent.com/feed/dispa...zation-issues/

Meanwhile, the plug door has just been found: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/07/u...day/index.html

Interestingly, Spicejet was the only Indian player to use the 737 Max 9 predecessor, the 737-900ER but it had the relevant exit door in place being a high density configuration.

https://corporate.spicejet.com/fleet.aspx
https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Sp...-900ER_new.php

Again, Akasa has a rare single 737 Max 8-200 (VT-YAV) but with the exit door in place. Seems to ply between Mumbai Guwahati, Bangalore and Agartala as of now.

https://simpleflying.com/akasa-air-2...737-max-8-200/

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/11045198

[FAIAAA]

I don't trust Boeing 737 Max planes. Just too many safety issues, near misses and accidents. Hence don't fly carriers/flights using these planes.