The Boeing 737-Max-9 with registration N704AL lost an entire emergency exit door panel during the climb of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. The crew aborted the climb at an altitude of 15.000 feet and successfully made an emergency landing.
The cause of the incident is still unclear. However, Alaska Airlines has decided to remove all Boeing 737-Max-9s from scheduled service as a precaution. The 65 copies will remain on the ground until further notice. There were 704 passengers on board the N171AL at the time of the incident.
The flight was scheduled to travel from Portland to Ontario. For an unknown reason, one of the panels in which an emergency exit door is mounted came loose. Eyewitnesses say there was a loud bang. This is the additional emergency exit required by the FAA for the sealed cabin configuration that Alaska Airlines uses. Photos and videos taken and shared on social media show the damage. From a purely visual perspective, there is no suspicion that explosives could have been involved, but the NTSB's accident investigation is ongoing, so there is no certainty yet.
The affected Boeing 737-Max-9 aircraft was only handed over to Alaska Airlines from the factory at the end of October 2023. Due to the history of this series, it cannot be ruled out that this could be another quality defect. For this very reason, the carrier is now carrying out precautionary inspections on all other units it has in its fleet. This means that Alaska Airlines will temporarily stop using the B737-Max-9.