Fear on board a plane after a window burst. It happened yesterday, shortly after takeoff, on an Alaska Airlines Boeing that had to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.
The company grounded all 65 of its Boeing 737-9 planes.
“Following what happened on Flight 1282 we decided as a precautionary measure to keep our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft on the ground,” said Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci. “Each aircraft will be returned to service only after all our safety and maintenance inspections have been completed,” he added, explaining that the checks will last a few days.
The crew of Flight 1282 reported responding to an alarm reporting a cabin pressurization problem by releasing oxygen masks for passengers. Photos published on X by the US civil aeronautics authority, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), show that one of the windows was missing after flying away. Kyle Rinker, one of the passengers, said that shortly after takeoff from Portland the window was sucked out with a "pop." “But it was all sudden and we didn't realize what had happened until the masks came off,” Riker said.
(Unioneonline/ss)
