Sudden danger: The brand-new Boeing 737 MAX emergency hatch flies away in the air, the plane is released urgently, and the emergency returns!
How new is this aircraft?
The plane only transferred from Boeing to Alaska Airlines on October 31, 2023, and the first flight began on November 11, that is, it flew less than 2 months.
Checking the information today, I found reports that luckily there was no one in the seat near this door/window, because even the back of the seat flew out of the air (26th row).
BBC News reported that the shirt of a child in the row was sucked away and flew off the plane. His mom hugged him tightly, making sure he wasn't sucked away.
Grounding all types of aircraft
Alaska Airlines, the airline involved, announced on its official website that in view of the danger of flight AS1282 that had an emergency hatch in the air, the airline took precautionary measures and grounded all 65 Boeing 737 MAX9 aircraft. Wait for a full repair and safety check to be completed before resuming flight.
Whether it's a window or an emergency door
You're right when you say it's a window, and you're right when you say it's an emergency door.
Today I will explain whether it is an emergency door or a window that is involved.
The basic configuration of the 737MAX9 model is as follows:
Viewed from the outside, the 737MAX8 differs from the front gate, two emergency exits on the wing, and a middle door between the rear and rear gates. This time the entire panel flew out of this middle door.
Note: Strictly speaking, the 737-8200 also belongs to the 737MAX8, and the 8200 also has this door, which is suitable for a 200-seat layout.
The main reason is that if the number of passenger seats is large, in order to meet the needs of emergency evacuation, there must be a sufficient number of emergency evacuation doors.
Is there a golden 90 seconds for emergency evacuation?
Activation: If it is enabled, this middle door is only used for emergency evacuation, and is not usually used for passengers to get on and off the plane.
Not enabled: If the airline chooses to use a low-density layout, that is, the airline does not choose a layout with so many seats, it can not use this emergency door, or it can complete the requirement of evacuating all passengers in 90 seconds.
If the door is not activated, then the door will be completely decorated from the inside to look like a window, that is, from the cabin, it will be exactly the same as any other airplane window.
As you can see from the above picture, Alaska Airlines did not choose to enable this emergency door, and the aircraft was directly low-density layout when it left the factory, and if the emergency evacuation door was set up at this location, then it would be impossible to have seats to block this evacuation route.
So from the passenger's point of view, that is, from the inside of the cabin, it's just a window that is almost indistinguishable from other seats. It's just a little bit larger than the spacing of other windows.
Is it possible that the passenger accidentally touched the emergency exit?
No, because from the passenger's point of view, this position is completely a window, no different from other windows, that is, there are no handles or emergency handles that passengers can touch by mistake.
What could be the reason
Because this plane was brand new on October 31 last year, and there was no possibility of accidental contact in the cabin, and there was no occupancy in the seat closest to this position.
So some media suspect that it is very likely that there was a problem with the manufacture or installation of this aircraft before leaving the factory.
The airline's precautionary grounding of all 65 737MAX9 aircraft of the same type, and the inspection also reflects the airline's concerns.
Boeing's attitude
Boeing also issued a statement noting the incident, and the Boeing technical team cooperated with the investigation of the incident.
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