Door fittings critical to safety probe

January 9, 2024 - U.S. regulators have grounded all Boeing 737 MAX 9s after United Airlines and Alaska Airlines discovered loose bolts on door plugs following an emergency landing by an Alaska jet.

Related Graphics

View More

Recent aviation disasters in North America

Control tower at Reagan Airport understaffed before collision

Washington DC mid-air collision

A faster jet stream is pushing aircraft to record-breaking speeds

Worst aviation accidents

From whence our modern-day Christmas customs hail

The living legend that is Santa Claus!

Mothballed firefighting plane back in production

Carriers move overflights from Iran to Afghanistan

Joby Aviation electric air taxi

Big orders for Boeing at Farnborough Airshow

Spotlight on world’s most turbulent flight routes

Investigation launched after Boeing 737 engine cover loss

Japan relaxes defence export rules for new jet fighter

At least 50 injured on flight from Sydney to Auckland

Key bolts missing from Alaska Airlines plane

Chile’s former president Sebastián Piñera dies in helicopter crash

Explorer claims to have found Amelia Earhart’s plane

Second Boeing model to be inspected after Max 9 incident

Missing part of Alaska Airlines plane found

Investigations begin into Tokyo plane crash

“SAF” fuel flight highlights aviation’s greener future

World’s largest aircraft begins flight tests

U.S. military asks public for help finding missing F-35 fighter jet

Pyka electric cargo aircraft

Europe’s worst and best airports

Air-gen electricity from thin air

Investigators probing Virginia plane crash

Post-pandemic air fares reach sky-high levels

“Miracle” tandem solar cells

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration grounded 171 Max 9 planes on Saturday after a panel in the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines Max 9 blew off just minutes after taking off from Portland, Oregon, on Friday.

The event has raised serious concerns over the possibility of broader safety issues affecting the popular variation of Boeing’s 737 airliner.

A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator said late Monday (January 8) that an initial examination of the recovered door plug and the hole left in the airframe when the part blew out showed that two guide roller tracks, one on each side near the top of the door plug were fractured.

In a media briefing, NTSB engineer Clint Crookshanks said that the fractures did not cause the plug failure but happened as the panel broke away.

Finding out what happened to the four bolts on the Alaska accident flight is emerging as a critical task in the NTSB’s probe.

“We have not yet recovered the four bolts that restrain it from its vertical movement and have not yet determined if they existed,” Crookshanks said.

A closer examination of the plug and other parts would reveal if each bolt worked itself free or failed.