In the minutes before the emergency landing, as oxygen masks hung from the ceiling and the wind howled through the gaping hole in the wall, passengers were unable to hear urgent announcements made over the public address system.
The plane was almost new by commercial airline standards. It was recorded for the first time last November, and only 145 flights were recorded.
What is the history of the 737 Max?
Two Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashes killed a total of 346 people in less than five months in 2018 and 2019. Both crashes were later linked to a malfunctioning sensor and device, known as MCAS, that overrode the pilot's commands.
Those incidents led to the global grounding of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, leaving hundreds of planes parked on airport tarmac around the world for nearly two years while engineers worked to identify and resolve the problem so regulators could re-certify the planes.
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The first incident occurred in October 2018, when a plane carrying 189 people from Jakarta, Indonesia, fell into the Java Sea just minutes after take-off. Four months later, another 737 Max, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed immediately after take-off en route to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board, including the eight crew members. .
Days later, President Donald Trump announced that US regulators would temporarily ground all flights of the Boeing 737 Max, while investigators and Boeing sought to determine how a software system that was supposed to make the plane safer played a role in the disasters.
US regulators were among the last to halt this model, but they did so after mounting pressure, while 42 other countries took a radical step to prevent further collapses.
Report via New York times Others eventually revealed that competitive pressures, flawed design and problematic oversight all played a role in the troubling history of the plane, Boeing's best-selling jet of all time and which received hundreds of billions of dollars in backorders from airlines around the world when it was grounded.
What were the repercussions?
Boeing agreed to pay $US2.5 billion ($3.75 billion) in a settlement with the Justice Department in 2021 to settle a criminal charge that it conspired to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the company and rates its planes.
In 2022, Boeing paid an additional $200 million in a deal with US securities regulators over accusations that the company misled investors by suggesting human error was responsible for the two fatal crashes, and ignoring the company's concerns about the plane.
By the time the planes were rehabilitated 20 months after the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, Boeing estimated the crisis had cost the company $20.7 billion.
Which airlines use the 737 MAX 9?
Part of Boeing's single-aisle 737 MAX series, the MAX 9 can carry up to 220 passengers, depending on its seating configuration. United Airlines has 79 Max 9 planes in service, the most of any airline, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm. Cirium said there are 215 Max 9 aircraft in service around the world. United and Alaska Airlines own about two-thirds of these planes.
The Max 9 is not believed to be in use in Australia.
Other companies flying the Max 9 include Copa Airlines in Panama and Aeromexico in the Americas, SCAT Airlines from Kazakhstan, Icelandair, Turkish Airlines and Flydubai.
A Flydubai spokesman said that the three 737 Max 9 aircraft in its fleet had completed the necessary safety checks over the past 24 months, and that the company was awaiting guidance from Boeing before conducting any further inspections.
what happened after that?
Major aviation safety incidents, including those that do not result in injuries or loss of life, typically trigger immediate reviews by regulators in the United States, the European Union, and China.
Safety investigations are usually handled by officials in the country where the accident occurred, in cooperation with officials from the country where the aircraft was manufactured.
A passenger's view from inside the plane, showing the shattered panel.credit: Elizabeth Lu via AP
Investigators look at everything: the plane's design; History of manufacture, maintenance and inspection; weather; Air traffic control decisions; and actions taken by the flight crew. They are researching the causes of the accident as well as lessons related to aviation safety.
In the case of the Alaska Airlines incident, the plane was manufactured in the United States and lost a section of the fuselage while flying in the United States. Therefore, the NTSB will be the lead agency responsible for investigating the incident.
Safety investigations can take several months. They include technical experts from the government, from the airline operating the plane, from labor unions, and from the plane's manufacturer — in this case, Boeing.
The Safety Board consults closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which certifies aircraft for airworthiness. If evidence emerges that an aircraft defect contributed to a safety incident, the FAA may order the model to be grounded until inspections or repairs are performed.
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The FAA does not need to wait for a safety board report before deciding whether to ground a model aircraft or order expedited inspections. Airlines are usually quick to inspect their planes anyway once they know what to look for.
