After Arriving at Destination, Panel Found Missing During Inspection
In January, Door Fell Off Mid-Flight... Boeing Faces Trouble
Another incident occurred where a part fell off a Boeing passenger plane operated by the US company Boeing, which had recently faced a series of troubles.
According to foreign media including AP on the 15th (local time), a Boeing 737-800 passenger plane of United Airlines landed at Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport in southern Oregon, its destination, and during an inspection afterward, it was found that one external panel was missing.
The plane took off from San Francisco, California, around 10:20 a.m. that day and arrived at Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport just before noon. The airport officials stated that it appears the problem was discovered during a routine inspection of the passenger plane by staff or pilots.
The missing panel was originally installed where the main body of the plane meets the wing, near the landing gear. The airport checked the runway and the airfield for the missing panel but did not find it. This has raised the possibility that the panel fell off while the plane was in flight.
United Airlines said, “There were 139 passengers and 6 crew members on board the plane,” and added, “We will investigate the cause of the incident and conduct a thorough inspection of the aircraft.”
Recently, Boeing has been struggling as the 737 model has been involved in consecutive accidents. On January 5th, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 Max passenger plane that took off from Portland International Airport in Oregon, experienced a window breakage and parts of the emergency exit and fuselage were torn off while flying toward Ontario, California, forcing an emergency return.
The Boeing passenger plane with a hole in the fuselage during a flight last January [Image source=Yonhap News]
The aircraft returned and landed at Portland International Airport around 5:27 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, just 20 minutes after takeoff, and all 174 passengers and 6 crew members were safe. According to FlightAware flight tracking data, the plane flew up to an altitude of 4,876 meters before turning back. The damaged area was reported to be the rear third of the fuselage behind the wing and engine.
At that time, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered all Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft operating domestically or by US airlines to suspend operations.
On the 6th of this month, smoke was detected in the cabin of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800 passenger plane heading to Phoenix, causing it to return to Portland Airport, and on the 8th, a United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 experienced an incident at Houston International Airport in Texas where it veered off the paved runway while taxiing after landing.
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