MOSCOW: The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has confirmed in a preliminary report that the door plug, which detached from an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9, had not been bolted on, reported Sputnik.
In late January, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing experts, that the door plug might have detached due to a lack of bolts.
“The observed damage patterns and absence of contact damage or deformation around the holes associated with the vertical movement arrestor bolts and upper guide track bolts in the upper guide fittings, hinge fittings, and recovered aft lower hinge guide fitting indicate that the four bolts that prevent upward movement of the MED plug were missing before the MED plug moved upward off the stop pads,“ the NTSB said in a statement on Tuesday.
Other systems of the aircraft functioned per design following the decompression, the statement read.
On Jan 5, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 with 171 passengers and six crew members on board made an emergency landing shorty after takeoff in Portland, Oregon, after a door plug detached midair. No injuries were reported at the time, but several days later, some passengers filed a lawsuit against the jet-producing company, demanding compensation for the physical, emotional and economic harm. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes in the United States.
The troubles with Boeing aircraft did not end there, as two weeks ago, an oxygen leak was discovered on board of a Boeing 737 that was expected to transport US Secretary of State Antony Blinken from the Davos World Economic Forum. The leak proved to be impossible to mend, making the plane unsafe to fly. -Bernama
