Alaska Airlines 737-900 MAX loses a door in-flight out of PDX
 

An almost brand new AS Max 9 has lost an entire window section during an explosive decompression event just out of Portland. Photos below show reported damage

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....898a8d73af.jpg

Looks like an emergency exit went. The hole is designed to be there - but it is supposed to have an exit door remain inside of it until a more normal emergency happens.

I hope the cause is found quickly.

Confirmed

It’s gonna be something like the wrong material rivets or hiloks used at factory to put the plug in. Just took this many cycles to happen. If smoking was allowed in planes still it may have been prevented ;)


Video from inside while flying -

Ouch. Another reason to keep seat belts fastened.

The plug will be an exit door with an internal panel to cover access to the release mechanism so no rivets or hiloks. In that case I'd guess the exit door wasn't properly latched before the interior panel was installed. Queue up an inspection of all such installations.

That would seem to follow with the image of the striker plates for the panel to secure against. It would follow that there is a set of locks somewhere along the sides to hold the plug in place. Not a good look. EAD to follow...


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....56dddb2650.png


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e040766075.png


From FR24, Airliners

Alaska Airlines 737-900 MAX loses a door in-flight out of PDX
 

An Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California was forced to make an emergency landing after suffering depressurization after takeoff.
Alaska flight 1282 left Portland just after 5pm local time on Friday when a window blew out at 16,000 feet, ripping a child's shirt off.
The Boeing 737-9 MAX rolled off the assembly line just two months ago, receiving its certification in November 2023, according to FAA record posted online.

How could this happen? I thought they were plug doors that open inwards...

Footage from inside the cabin... you can see the lights of Portland below!

https://www.tiktok.com/@strawberr.vy...393710?lang=en

One Twitter user suggesting that the door is actually deactivated for carriers such as Alaska and not used - therefore anyone sitting there would not have even known that it was a door of sorts.

If it is a plug, then it would need to be brought inside slightly and turned to go outward; the stops are still visible so unlikely it just blew out, more to the story?

It looks like an entire panel blew out, including the emergency exit.
https://katu.com/news/local/alaska-a...oeing-737-max#

Wow. At 16,000 ft the cabin differential surely wouldn’t be more than say 5psi. The passenger were lucky it occurred so low, at FL390, it might have been somewhat less amusing.

Anyhow, a happy ending, which is always good.

It is to plug the hole, not a plug style door, though there is flexibility as to what marketing term is used. The same arrangement pictured here, on an Airbus, has been referred to as a plug style door.

The original design was true plug design, requiring passengers to manhandle the door from a sideways position back into the cabin. This was seen as a problem and seems to have been replaced with an outwardly opening door, hinged at the top and counterbalanced, that has an electromagnetically operated catch to prevent just this sort of operation. Since this wasn't intended for emergency evacuation I wonder if it had the top hinge or the catch. I suspect not.

Looks like a lot of forest to search to find the door. Start checking eBay and Craigslist.

Mid Exit Doors open outwards and downwards.

AS to ground entire Max 9 fleet for inspection

https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-ai...tions/as-1282/

The Mid Exit Door is hinged at the bottom.

Can someone confirm if AS actually has an exit door installed, or it is just a fuselage plug ? This door is required to meet certification standards for high density seating, but many airlines with lower density seating opt not to have it installed (saving on cost, weight and maintenance), and the hole is covered with a fixed plug. To me the picture suggests that there was no door but a covering wall panel on the inside, and the seat row pitch also does not look like an exit row.

Oh, no, not the "semi-plug-door" discussion yet again ...

“The section of fuselage involved appears to be an area that can be used as an additional emergency exit door by some operators of the aircraft type, but not by Alaska.”

source BBC news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67899564

keep those seatbelts loosely fastened

Not an expert but it looks like a door from the outside, have they just stuck a panel over it internally? Online seatmaps for the Alaskan 737 Max 9 don't show a door here so this appears correct.

Another reason to buckle up during the complete flight time.