NEW HAVEN, Conn., - The aviation industry is still in shock from a near disaster on January 5, in which a 60-pound “door plug” blew out from a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft in flight at 16,000 feet, leaving a gaping hole in the fuselage, Fast Company reports. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
24 January 2024 - "As a former United Airlines pilot now lecturing in Yale University’s School of Management, I believe the wrong questions are being asked about what happened on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282," Amy Fraher writes for Fast Company. "As the National Transportation Safety Board and numerous news outlets have explained, door plugs are commonly used to seal unused exits on commercial airliners. The question we need to ask is: Why wouldn’t an airline use all of an aircraft’s emergency exits? Wouldn’t that make passengers safer?"
In short, Fraher explains that by keeping seating below maximum capacity, carriers can reduce the number of emergency exits that need to be available. By taking away an exit, carriers remove the need to constantly inspect and maintain the infrastructure of an emergency exit like slides.
"In 2020, the FAA recertified the Max as 'safe for flight'; by 2023, Boeing had logged more than 7,000 total orders for the Max, far eclipsing the sale of any other type of airliner, Fraher writes. "This fact alone ought to raise safety concerns. It may soon prove impossible to avoid flying on a 737 Max, particularly in the U.S. domestic market. United, American, Southwest, and Alaska airlines all currently fly the Max."
Related: Boeing 737 MAX 9 still without a timeline to return to the sky
Related: Boeing begins X-66 modification for NASA's Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project
Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
