Alaska Airlines plane lands in Portland after losing window in mid-air

Alaska Airlines plane lands in Portland after losing window in mid-air

On Friday, a passenger plane in the US state of Oregon had to make an emergency landing after losing a portion of its fuselage in midair.

Thirty-five minutes into the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 flight to California, an outside portion, including a window, fell, forcing the aircraft to return to Portland.

The aircraft "returned safely... after the crew reported a pressurization issue," according to the US Federal Aviation Agency.

Alaska said there were 177 people on board, including crew.

Boeing stated that it was "working to gather more information" about the event.

"A Boeing technical team stands ready to support the investigation," added the statement.

The aircraft was a Boeing 737 Max 9, according to flight tracking websites Flightaware and FlightRadar24.

According to Alaska Airlines, the incident occurred soon after takeoff and the aircraft returned to Portland without issue.

"While this type of occurrence is rare, our flight crew was trained and prepared to safely manage the situation," the company stated.

Flight monitoring data indicates that when it started its emergency descent, it was flying at an altitude of over 16,000 feet (4,876 meters).

The damaged region was behind the wing and engines in the rear portion of the aircraft, based on the photos.

Some operators of the type of aircraft, but not Alaska, seem to be able to employ the implicated piece of the fuselage as an additional emergency exit door.

Investigating the incident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stated on X, the former Twitter, that it was looking into it.

Following a number of safety concerns and inquiries, the Boeing 737 Max has been dubbed "the most scrutinized transport aircraft in history."

Two of the same type of aircraft crashed under similar circumstances in March 2019, killing all occupants. This led to the aircraft being grounded for a year and a half.

Each Max jet had extensive modifications made to it so that it could fly again, but the passengers would not know the differences and the changes would not be visible from the outside.

Following the resolution of a supply mistake that necessitated extensive inspections of both new aircraft and inventories, Boeing recently announced that it would accelerate the pace of 737 Max deliveries, according to the Reuters news agency.

Boeing data indicates that about 1,300 737 Max aircraft have been delivered to customers.

Airlines were advised by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to check Max models for potential loose bolts in their rudder control systems last month.