The American regulator orders the inspection of Boeing 737 MAX 9, suspended from flight after takeoff from a window

This decision comes after an incident that occurred on Friday shortly after the takeoff of an Alaska Airlines flight, near Portland in the United States.

The American Federal Civil Aviation Agency (FAA) ordered, Saturday January 6, the immediate inspection of 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, suspended from flight until then, after an incident that occurred Friday during a flight path near Portland, Oregon.

The FAA directive requires airlines “to inspect the aircraft before a new flight”, according to the agency’s press release, estimating that this operation required between 4 and 8 hours by plane. Before the FAA’s announcement, the American airline Alaska had already neutralized all of its 65 planes of this model.

The decision followed an incident that occurred Friday shortly after takeoff of an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland International Airport (Northwest Oregon) to Ontario (California), in the greater Los Angeles suburbs. .

Two crashes involved Boeing 737 MAX 9s in 2018 and 2019

According to images posted on social networks, a door opened and detached from the cabin in mid-flight. The aircraft, which was carrying 171 passengers and 6 crew members, was then at an altitude of nearly 5,000 m, according to flight data from the FlightAware website.

After turning around, the plane returned to land at its original airport, the incident causing only a few minor injuries. The incident comes as the 737 MAX has suffered a series of technical problems and two crashes in recent years. These two accidents, which caused the death of 346 people in October 2018 and March 2019, resulted in the 737 MAX being kept on the ground for 20 months, before it was re-authorized to fly.