Alaska and United are the only US airlines with a Boeing 737 MAX 9 in their fleet; all have the door plug
New background about door plug manufacturing and installation; more loose bolts identified in December; Oregon mom tells her story
Airlines decide how many passenger seats they want on a plane. That’s why some feel more crowded than others.
The number of passengers an airplane can seat determines the number of emergency exits required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In order to make airplanes more like assembly line cars and less like a handmade Rolls-Royce, Boeing’s finance-first management introduced the cutout in 2006 as part of the 737 MAX predecessor.
When an airline wanted maximum passenger capacity, Boeing made the cutout into an exit door. Otherwise, Boeing replaced the cutout with a door plug. The door plug, part of the fuselage, is a component of most 737 MAX 9 jets, according to ABC. They rotate “outward to 15 degrees as part of maintenance.”
In the U.S., only Alaska and United currently have the 737 MAX 9 in their fleet. Because they chose not to cram us in like sardines, all have the door plug.
News stories have focused on four missing and loose bolts. However, Airways Magazine reports that the door plug is fastened with 12 stop pins as well as the four stop bolts.
On Friday’s Alaska flight, all 12 stop pins disengaged, “meaning all the stop pads became disengaged, fracturing the fittings and allowing the plug to blow out of the fuselage.”
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has “concluded that there was no evidence of a connection between the previous instances of the auto-pressurization light coming on and the plug expulsion and rapid decompression that occurred during Flight 1282.”
Not the first loose bolt
As 2023 came to a close, Boeing asked airlines to inspect every one of the 1,370 737 MAX planes manufactured since 2017 for a loose bolt in the rudder-control system. The FAA said that an airline found the bolt sans nut during regular maintenance.
After the international airline, which the agency did not name, noticed the missing nut, Boeing discovered that an undelivered 737 Max also had a nut that was not properly tightened, the F.A.A. said.
Boeing said the inspection would require “about two hours per plane.”
Who makes the door plug?
Spirit AeroSystems had been Boeing’s Wichita division from 1941 – 2005. In 2005, Boeing’s financially-minded management sold those assets; the Spirit AeroSystems IPO was in 2006. Spirit manufactures a lot of Boeing’s fuselages and is Boeing’s largest supplier.
Spirit ships 737 MAX 9 fuselages by train to Boeing’s Renton, WA, facility. The door plug is reportedly “semi-rigged” in Kansas and finalized in Renton.
Boeing typically removes the pop-out, or non-functioning, door and uses the gap to load interiors. Then, the part is put back and the installation in completed. Finally, the hull is pressurized to 150% to make sure everything is working correctly, [according to Reuters].
In October 2023, Spirit AeroSystems named former Boeing executive Pat Shanahan as interim CEO. Why did the company need a new CEO?
Deliveries of some 737 MAX models were temporarily halted in April after Boeing discovered a problem with certain parts supplied by Spirit AeroSystems (SPR). The company discovered another manufacturing defect in Spirit-supplied parts in August, leading it to lower its delivery goal in October.
About that 15 year old and his mom
The Seattle Times has a harrowing interview with the mom of the 15 year old seated in the row directly in front of the blown fuselage.
“When the Boeing 737 MAX 9’s side blew out explosively on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Friday evening, a 15-year-old high school student was in the window seat in the row directly ahead, his shoulder beside the edge of the gaping hole…
As the air in the passenger cabin rushed out, the Oregon woman turned and saw her son’s seat twisting backward toward the hole, his seat headrest ripped off and sucked into the void, her son’s arms jerked upward.
“He and his seat were pulled back and towards the exterior of the plane in the direction of the hole,” she said. “I reached over and grabbed his body and pulled him towards me over the armrest…
At the moment of the incident, Faye’s face was pressed against the rear of her son’s right shoulder and she said the seat “was pulled back to such a degree that I was looking directly out of the hole into the night sky.”
The FAA has grounded all 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes until further notice. This is a developing story.
Prior story: A Boeing 737 MAX 9 blew an escape hatch on Friday. Here’s how a once-great engineering company created deadly planes.
.
Talk to me: Facebook | Mastodon | Twitter
The post Alaska and United are the only US airlines with a Boeing 737 MAX 9 in their fleet; all have the door plug appeared first on The Moderate Voice.