The FAA indicated that it is reconsidering its longstanding practice of relying on employees at aircraft manufacturers to perform some safety analysis of planes.
‘We’re going to want to know what broke down in our gauntlet of inspections, what broke down in the original work, that allowed for that escape to happen,’ Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said.
The planes are being inspected after federal officials grounded Max 9s after a plug used to replace a door blew out of an Alaska Airlines Max 9 bound for Ontario on Friday night.
Take the recent case of a panel blowing off of an Alaska Airlines plane midflight, for instance — thanks to TikTok, we have a pretty good view of the event from multiple angles. An Alaska Airlines plane was grounded Friday shortly after departing Portland after a sealed panel blew off the plane, leaving a sizable hole in the body of the craft. The New York Times reported that no passengers were seriously injured, and the plane landed back in Portland without further incident.