it s clear a section of fuselage equivalent to one window frame area in the row of seats affected. i would stress at this point, we know very little except that has happened, the aircraft was able to safely land. there would have been an element of depressurisation, although the aircraft was at a lower than cruising altitude, apparently it was at about 16,000 feet that s roughly half of what an airline would be cruising at during the flight. but nevertheless they needed to get the plane down safely, which fortunately was done with all lives protected. i would stress as well that while we know little apart from the information and the evidence we have seen of this window frame that s come out or the fuselage section around the window, i should say this is certainly nothing to do with the reason for the aircraft being grounded for that 18 month period you mentioned. that was to do with software on a flight control system in the cockpit. it was a very major issue which has been full
there are hundreds of this aircraft around the world operating safely. but i think it is understandable, looking at the photographic images so far, that alaska is taking a naturally cautious approach by grounding their fleet. we will have to see in the coming hours what happens in terms of whether any more directives or advice is issued by boeing or indeed the us regulatory authority, the faa. after that 2019 incident, there s been nothing of this kind of magnitude since then? that s what you re saying, it s been plain sailing for this particular airline or aircraft type? yeah, once this aircraft went back into service, which was about two years or so ago now, it s had a really good safety record. there was an enormous amount of work done after the tragic losses of two aircraft there was one loss in indonesia,
extreme at that level. there could have been loss of cabin pressure, certainly the pilots themselves would have undoubtedly donned their oxygen masks to protect their abillity to control the aircraft, but in terms of the aircraft itself, it would have been fully controllable in terms of their ability to get it down in a straightforward landing, given there is a piece of that fuselage missing. the powerful iranian backed lebanese group, hezbollah, says it s launched a barrage of rockets at northern israel, in response to an explosion in beirut that killed a top hamas official earlier this week. a statement said they hit an air traffic control base in meron with 62 rockest. the israeli military said it had identified about a0 launches from lebanon, and that it had responded, without giving details. these are live pictures from the lebanese israel border. we will keep across those and bring you any developments from there over
for a section of fuselage to break loose is not remotely a common thing to happen. sorry to interrupt, we rejust looking again at that picture of the section missing there. what effect would that have on the handling of the plane? in this case the 177 passengers and crew all off the plane safely, it landed safely at portland, but what kind of effect would it have for the pilot when something like that happens? talk us through that. i must stress, i m not a pilot myself, but i don t believe it would have a significant effect on the handling. it s a piece of fuselage, it s relatively contained. the primary issue would be that the aircraft would not be able to remain pressurised, but it seems and i m stressing i only have very early information here it looks like the flight was on descent to portland or had recently departed. if it was at 16,000 feet, that is a significant altitude, but nowhere near normal cruising altitude, which is typically around 30,000 feet, so the issue of press
from the us city of portland has made an emergency landing after part of the aircraft blew out in mid air. listen to this emergency call from a member of the cabin crew. social media video shot inside the boeing 737 max 9 shows a window section missing. the passengers remain in their seats, oxygen masks dangling, looking remarkably calm. alaska airlines said the 177 passengers and crew landed safely back at portland. it has temporarily grounded its 65 max aircraft for inspection. the aeroplane has a chequered safety record. in 2019, it was grounded worldwide for 18 months after two fatal crashes. for more on this, i spoke to aviation expertjohn strickland. well, it s certainly come as fresh news to me this morning, just prior to the interview. looking at the photos,