Joe.My.God. LGBT News
ABC News reports:
An Alaska Airlines flight returned to Portland, Oregon, soon after takeoff after it “experienced an incident,” prompting the airline to temporarily ground its Boeing 737-9 fleet, the airline said Friday. Six crew members and 171 passengers were on board Flight 1282 bound for Ontario, California, the airline said.
The cabin became depressurized shortly after takeoff and the pilots asked for an emergency landing, according to the transcript of an air traffic control call from LiveATC.net. A photo posted on social media appeared to show a hole in the fuselage next to a passenger seat.
CEO Ben Minicucci called the grounding “precautionary,” saying in a statement the 65 planes will return to service “only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections.”
The New York Times reports:
Within hours, the company said that it was grounding all 65 of its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft until it could inspect each plane. Those planes make up about a fifth of its fleet. It said in a statement that it expected to complete the inspections within a few days.
Boeing’s Max aircraft have a troubled history. After two crashes of Max 8 jets killed hundreds of people within several months in 2018 and 2019, the Max was grounded around the world.
Passengers on Friday’s flight described an unnerving experience during the 15 or so minutes in which the plane was returning to the airport. As yellow oxygen masks dangled above their heads, a powerful wind tore through a gaping hole that showed the night sky and the city lights below.
Alaska Airlines grounded its Boeing 737 Max 9 fleet for inspections after a midair problem that passengers said opened a hole in a plane’s side. https://t.co/AjaXtab3IX
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 6, 2024