US Federal officials have ordered the immediate grounding of some Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners for immediate inspection after an Alaska Airlines plane suffered a blowout, leaving a hole in the fuselage, Associated Press reports.
The Alaska Airlines plane suffered a fuselage blowout shortly after takeoff over Oregon, leading to an emergency landing with no major injuries reported among the 171 passengers and six crew members. The plane’s missing door from the fuselage was being searched for in Oregon.
The required inspections will take around four to eight hours per aircraft, affecting about 171 airplanes globally. Alaska Airlines inspected 18 planes and cleared them for service, with the remaining inspections expected in the coming days.
