Four passengers sued Alaska Airlines after a mid-air accident aboard Flight 1282. The accident involved a door plug failure on the Boeing 737 Max 9 model, which then led to a door panel flying off, exposing the passengers to a powerful rush of air due to the pressure difference between the low-pressure environment outside and the pressurized cabin.
Initially, the plane was destined to arrive in Ontario, Calif., but then reported back to its departing airport, Portland International Airport. The accident occurred at night on Friday, Jan. 5. The day after, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the grounding of all 737 Max 9s for planned inspections.
What does this mean for other airlines and their flights? Well, preventative measures such as enhanced inspection of planes should be put into practice prior to departure.
Flight 1282 is an example of why we should enhance the inspection of planes for any defects or problems within the whole aircraft. The plane was brand new, but that one loose door plug that no individual was aware of caused the whole door to fly off midair.
According to an article written by Jacopo Prisco for CNN, another rapid decompression accident similar to what happened on Flight 1282 happened in 2018. A woman died while on board Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 by being sucked out of a window that blew out due to shrapnel from an exploded engine. This accident occurred at 32,000 feet, while Flight 1282’s accident occurred at 16,000 feet.
Clearly, if Flight 1282 was 32,000 feet up in the sky, the suction force caused by the voided door would be much larger than what was experienced at 16,000 feet in the January incident. This would have posed an even larger danger to the passengers.
Not only do passengers experience a suction force, but hypoxia, a condition where oxygen supply becomes low in circulation throughout tissues, would be apparent if an aircraft loses stable pressurization.
Even just inspecting the most seemingly unimportant part of the plane, such as the door plugs to one of the side doors, could prevent these accidents from occurring and also prevent the lives of passengers from being jeopardized.
Thus, routine inspections each day prior to departure would prevent the possibility of accidents like the one on Flight 1282 from occurring. When flying, ensuring the safety of passengers, flight attendants and pilots should always come first.
