FAA Temporarily Grounds Dozens of Boeing 737 Max 9 Aircraft Following Alaska Airlines Incident

The Friday night mid-air incident occurred around 6 minutes into the flight.

Passenger oxygen masks hang from the roof next to a missing window and a portion of a side wall of an Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which had been bound for Ontario, California and suffered depressurization in Portland, Ore., on Jan. 5, 2024, in this picture obtained from social media. Kyle Rinker via Reuters

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a temporary grounding of about 171 Boeing Max 9 airplanes after an incident on an Alaska Airlines airplane.

“The FAA will order the temporary grounding of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory,” the federal agency said on Saturday in a statement. “The Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) that will be issued shortly will require operators to inspect aircraft before further flight that do not meet the inspection cycles specified in the EAD. The required inspections will take around four to eight hours per aircraft.”