Loose parts found in Boeing Max door panels, airlines say

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines reported separately that they found loose parts in the door panels of other Boeing 737 Max 9 jets after they were grounded for inspection following an incident Friday evening.

An Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Ore., to Ontario, Calif., suffered an “explosive decompression” mid-flight when a panel used to plug an unused emergency exit door on the aircraft blew off several minutes after takeoff.

Federal investigators say they were looking at whether four bolts that were supposed to hold the panel in place were missing when the plane took off, The Associated Press reported.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is investigating the incident, found the door that blew off the plane about 16,000 feet above Oregon. The door will be sent to its Washington, D.C,. materials laboratory for further examination.

NTSB said it examined the door plug on the right side of the aircraft and found no discrepancies. On the left door, the agency said it had not determined if the four bolts meant to hold the panel in place were there to begin with and the lab will look into the issue further.

United Airlines began preliminary inspections into its Max 9 fleet of 79 planes Saturday and has “found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug — for example, bolts that needed additional tightening," the airline said. The Tech Ops team is working to remedy the issue, they added, and is working to return the Max 9’s to service in “the days ahead.”

The airline noted it expects significant cancellations since service on the aircraft remains suspended, but it has been able to switch some services to other planes.

Alaska Airlines announced late Friday that it would ground all 65 of its Max 9 aircraft after the incident. Initial reports from the airline’s investigation indicated “some loose hardware was visible on some aircraft.”

The Hill has reached out to Alaska Airlines for more information.

The Federal Aviation Administration subsequently grounded 171 of the 200 Max 9’s until door plugs can be inspected and fixed, if necessary, the AP reported.

Boeing, which had problems with various planes over the years, pledged to “help address any and all findings” during the investigation.