The brand-new Boeing had been delivered to Alaska Airlines in October 2023 and was judged airworthy by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Alaska Max-9 aircraft had experienced pressurization warnings on three previous flights (on Dec 7th, January 3rd, and January 4th.

The auto pressurization fail light turned on during each of these flights, but since there is a backup system, the pilots flipped the switch to “alt mode,” as is typical in such situations.

They also requested an additional maintenance check on the aircraft—a check that wasn’t yet completed at the time of the incident.

It’s important to note that:

1. The light came on during only three of the aircraft’s 145 flights.

2. Since the warning was sporadic, maintenance techs may have suspected a bad sensor. 

3. The warning light may be unrelated to the door plug blowing off.

4. Alaska Airlines decided to be conservative and restricted the aircraft to flying over land (rather than over the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii) so that it could return quickly to an airport in the event the light illuminated again.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said that the over-water flying restriction wasn’t required by regulation but was “put in place for Alaska as an extra step to ensure safety and to allow them to conduct maintenance.”

That hasn’t stopped experts from weighing in on Alaska’s decision to keep the plane in the air.

Former crash investigator, Alan Diehl, thinks Alaska should have grounded the plane immediately. However, the decision to restrict the plane from flying to Hawaii “probably saved a lot of lives“.

Others, like former airline pilot and current safety consultant John Cox, saw nothing strange or untoward in Alaska’s decision to keep the plane in service.

A door plug is essentially a piece of fuselage designed to cover the slot where an emergency exit could have gone.

The door plug from Alaska 1282 somehow moved up and flew off the plane, despite the stop fittings and bolts that are supposed to keep it from doing so.

NTSB officials said that the missing chunk of fuselage was recovered from a Portland school teacher’s backyard and will be sent to a lab for testing.

They hope to determine what happened to the bolts and what caused the failure.

In the aftermath of the Alaska 1282 losing a portion of its fuselage mid-flight, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all Max 9s and launched an investigation into the safety of Boeing’s 737 aircraft.

As a result, both Alaska and United had to cancel hundreds of flights. Investigations continue to determine why and how the door plug came loose.

Crew members and passengers will be interviewed, and maintenance crews will complete the required inspections.

Passengers on board the flight were each given $1500 cash compensation and access to mental health resources.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy is campaigning for the cockpit voice recorders in airplanes not to reset until 25 hours have passed, unlike the current 2 hours. (The recording on the Alaska flight was lost because the device wasn’t powered off, and the recording was overwritten).

In the meantime, Alaska Airlines has had “a candid conversation” with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun about Boeing’s production quality and control systems.

Historically, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has ranked among the safest U.S. airlines and has also gained international recognition for its safety standards.

Alaska has gone for 23 years without a fatal accident.

Although it has had three major crashes in the last 50 years, the last accident prior to Friday’s incident was in January 2000.

One of the things that sets Alaska apart is its stringent maintenance programs. Every plane in the entire fleet is checked every three months.

In part due to its maintenance program, Alaska was ranked among the top 20 safest airlines in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

While that’s all well and good, we’re forced to wonder whether the safety checks airlines are doing are enough. We’ll discuss that more in a moment.

First, let’s take a look at the Boeing 737.

Safety History Of The Boeing 737 Max

The incident renewed concerns over the safety of Boeing 737 aircraft, of which there are two versions in service: the Max 8 and the Max 9.

Boeing’s Max 8 planes were grounded for nearly two years after two devastating accidents: a 2018 Lion Air flight that crashed in Indonesia and a 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash.

After those accidents, Boeing altered the automated flight control system which caused both crashes.

In 2023, the FAA also limited the use of an anti-ice system on the Max 9s because it determined that inlets around the engines might overheat and break away.

None of these issues had anything to do with the door plug blowing off, however. 

Anthony Brickhouse, a professor of aerospace safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, has been a calming voice in the wake of the incident, assuring air travelers that both airlines and regulators will make sure the Max 9s are safe before clearing them to fly.

Are The Safety Checks That Airlines Are Doing Enough?

“The aviation system and its safety margins are showing signs of stress,” says Dr. Hassan Shahidi, president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, in an opinion piece for CNN.

The Alaska 1282 door plug blowout, as well as the tragic collision of a Japanese Airline Airbus with a Japanese Coast Guard Flight, are important reminders not to grow complacent.

Instead, the aviation industry and its regulators need to recommit to maintaining the highest possible quality and safety standards.

Constant vigilance and continuous improvement are the keys not only to keeping everyone safe but also to maintaining public trust. 

Shahidi went on to identify staffing as one of the top issues in airline safety.

Thousands of professionals are retiring from the field, leading to a large turnover in the workforce—and plenty of newbies who don’t have years of experience under their belts.

According to Shahidi, the focus now should be on recruiting and training new pilots, air traffic controllers, maintenance technicians, and other critical personnel to fill the void and regain that lost expertise.

Another important point is implementing technological systems that improve safety.

Shahidi mentioned cockpit-based displays, which could help alert pilots to hazards, but the standards related to these displays have been “slow to evolve.”

Other systems could help air traffic controllers get a better sense of air traffic in order to prevent accidents.

Do The Airlines Need Better Maintenance Programs?

Airplane maintenance is a complex topic, as an article published on Aero Time, a hub for aviation-related news and information, explains.

There are three types of airplane maintenance: reactive, preventative, and predictive.

Reactive maintenance is when something breaks, and the component has to be fixed. This is dangerous and costly and can lead to flight delays, bad PR, accidents, and more.

So, most airlines use preventative maintenance. This is regularly scheduled maintenance used to change out aircraft parts that typically wear out, perform basic checks on the plane, and ensure the functionality of its components.

The challenge here is that it can be tricky to determine when to carry out the checks.

If they are performed too early, the airlines might end up wasting part of a component’s life cycle. However, if they wait too late, the component could fail and put safety at risk.

The third kind of maintenance is predictive maintenance. This high-tech solution uses data analysis to detect possible defects and offer various solutions before a failure occurs.

Predictive maintenance isn’t easy to implement, but could offer solutions and higher-quality maintenance going forward.

Do We Think This Will Affect Alaska Airlines Going Forward?

Although it’s too early to offer definitive predictions, it’s quite possible this incident will affect Alaska Airlines going forward.

The company had already seen a 24% fall in stock in 2023, according to Forbes.

Having to ground planes, cancel hundreds of flights, and survive a media backlash are definite blows.

Its fate will probably be determined, at least in part, by the fate of its Boeing 737 Max-9 fleet. The airline has sixty-five of them, and according to Cirium airline analytics, it has another 25 on order.

If the model is found to have fatal issues, the repercussions will be huge–not only for Alaska and United but also for foreign airlines, especially Turkish Airlines, Copa Airlines, and Aeromexico, all of which have Max-9s with door plugs in their aircraft lineup.

The scrutiny here falls on Boeing and begs an important question… Will Boeing be able to improve its quality and safety controls enough to gain back consumer trust?

“If Boeing doesn’t get its factories stabilized, it’s going to be a problem selling airplanes — if it isn’t already,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson. “You’ve got to have zero defects all the time. That’s the business.”

What Kind Of Airline Is Alaska?

Alaska Airlines is in a similar league to Delta and American Airlines, offering both high-tiered elite flights as well as saver fares for those seeking budget options.

The airline focuses primarily on the west coast of the United States and Alaska but also flies to Canada, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the Bahamas.