Safety checks on some Boeing jets hit a snag over paperwork on Sunday, as U.S. authorities searched for a missing panel that blew off a new Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet in midair on Friday. The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing jets installed with the same panel after the eight-week-old Alaska Airlines jet was forced to make an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage. But criteria for the checks have yet to be agreed between the FAA and Boeing, meaning airlines have yet to receive detailed instructions, people familiar with the matter said.
An Alaska Airlines flight from Oregon to Southern California made an emergency landing Friday following a mid-air incident in which part of a side of the plane appeared to have detached.
The US air safety regulator announced Saturday it was grounding some Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplanes pending inspections, a day after a panel blew out of one of the planes over the western state of Oregon. Boeing has so far delivered some 218 737 MAX 9 planes worldwide, the company told AFP.
US-based Alaska Airlines grounded all 65 of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes on Friday after a flight carrying 171 passengers and six crew was forced to make an emergency landing, with passengers saying a window panel