The US has grounded some Boeing MAX aircraft following an incident involving an exploding side door.

A section of the aircraft's fuselage ripped off the left side of the plane as it took off from Oregon to California last Friday, forcing the pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and 6 crew members on board. The plane had only been in service for 8 weeks.

I used some Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft after the explosion of the aircraft shown in Figure 1. — Oxygen masks were lowered after a side door went missing on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 last Friday. Photo: Kyle Rinker

FAA Director Mike Whitaker said, “The FAA is ordering immediate inspections of several Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft before they can fly again.” Investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board are expected to arrive at the scene Saturday afternoon.

Social media posts showed that oxygen masks had been deployed. A section of the fuselage intended for a side door had disappeared, leaving a gap resembling a door.

Emma Vu, a passenger on the flight to Alaska, told CNN that she woke up to see the plane "descending and I knew it wasn't just normal turbulence because the masks were falling out and that's when the panic definitely started."

According to FlightRadar24, Flight 1282 was only at an altitude of just over 16,000 feet (over 4,800 meters) when the explosion occurred. “We want to land,” the pilot told air traffic control, according to the audio recording posted on liveatc.net.

"We are declaring a state of emergency. We need to descend to 10,000 feet," the pilot added, referring to the altitude reserved for such emergencies. Below this altitude, healthy individuals can breathe without additional oxygen.

Anthony Brickhouse, an aviation safety expert at Embry-Riddle Aviation University, said: “I can’t imagine what those passengers went through. Wind would be blowing through that compartment. It was probably a pretty chaotic situation and certainly a terrifying one.”

I used some Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft after the explosion of the aircraft shown in Figure 2. — The Boeing 737 MAX is a single-aisle, narrow-body jet aircraft manufactured by Boeing, officially entering service in 2016. Photo: Wiki

The FAA said its inspection directive includes 171 MAX 9 aircraft but did not specify how many new aircraft need inspection or what the exact inspection requirements are. The MAX 9 accounts for approximately 220 of the 1,400 MAX aircraft delivered to date.

A person familiar with the matter said several foreign regulatory agencies, including China, have sought details about the incident. The MAX aircraft was previously grounded worldwide for 20 months following crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia due to poorly designed cockpit software.

However, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines were the only U.S. airlines using the MAX 9, according to aviation data provider Cirium. Both canceled dozens of flights on Saturday.

Alaska Airlines previously stated that it had voluntarily grounded its fleet of 65 Boeing MAX 9 aircraft for inspection. United Airlines said it had suspended service on approximately 45 MAX 9s for inspection and that 60 flights would be canceled on Saturday.

Bui Huy (Reuters, Bloomberg)

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