Alaska Airlines admits to finding loose bolts on aircraft after plane window blows out mid-flight
Passengers on an Alaskan Airline flight were left fearing for their lives last week after the plane made a shock emergency landing 35 minutes into the journey.
The Boeing 737 Max 9 had departed from Portland Airport on Friday (January 5) evening and was heading towards California.
Around half an hour into the flight, however, the plane was forced to return after a window - as well as a piece of the outer fuselage - blew out mid air.
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The 177 passengers and several members of crew onboard the flight were thankfully returned to Portland safely following the unexpected emergency landing.
Today (January 9), both United Airlines and Alaska Airlines have issued a statement, admitting they'd discovered several loose parts of the aircraft that were dropped during the flight.
It is believed that the particular aircraft received its certification only two months ago, but more information is being gathered.
All models of the aircraft have been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration since the startling incident after the large part of fuselage was ripped from the Portland flight at 16,000 ft in the air.
Test and checks will now be carried out upon all of these models.
In a statement, United Airlines explained: "Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug.
"For example, bolts that needed additional tightening.
"These findings will be remedied by our Tech Ops team to safely return the aircraft to service."
According to Jennifer Homendy - chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) - the aircraft's auto pressurisation fail light had activated on numerous occasions prior to the incident.
Despite it lighting up on December 7, January 3, and January 4, Homendy insisted it was still unclear whether there was any connection between those incidents and Friday’s rapid emergency landing.
One passenger posting about the incident on TikTok said it was 'lucky' that no-one had been sat next to the gaping hole.
"A part of the plane flew off not even 20 min into our flight," they wrote.
"Flew back for an emergency landing. It wasn't even the emergency door because we were in the back half. It was just a random piece of the plane.
"Everyone on the plane is okay, luckily there was no one seated next to the window."
Rhianna Benson