India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) immediately ordered three Indian airlines to conduct a one-time inspection of emergency exits on all their Boeing 737 Max-8 aircraft out.
On Monday, Boeing shared instructions with airlines for inspecting their 737 Max-9 aircraft, after US regulators grounded 171 such planes because of the Alaska Airlines incident.
Then on Tuesday, the DGCA said inspections revealed a missing washer on a Boeing 737 Max plane operated by an Indian airline.
Meanwhile, United Airlines and Alaska Airlines said they discovered loose parts on Boeing Max-9 jets during an inspection. Following this, Boeing issued a global call to scrutinise all 737 Max aircraft within 24 hours for ‘possible loose hardware’.
Mint takes a closer look at the incident how Indian airlines have responded.
What do we know so far?
On 5 January, Alaska Airlines flight 1282, operating between Portland and Ontario, California, made an emergency landing after part of the wall of the aircraft blew out, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane. The plane was carrying 174 passengers and six crew members, but nobody was seriously injured.
“Several guests onboard experienced injuries that required medical attention. All guests have now been medically cleared,” Alaska Airlines said at the time. “The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has assumed the lead role in the investigation. Alaska’s safety and technical teams, along with representatives from Boeing, are closely involved in supporting the NTSB,” it added. Boeing said it was aware of the incident and was “working to gather more information”.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) later ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing 737 Max-9 aircraft for inspection. Airlines and aviation regulators worldwide have since been closely monitoring the FAA’s inspections and conducting their own.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered three Indian airlines – Akasa Air, Air India Express and SpiceJet – to conduct a one-time inspection of emergency exits on all their Boeing 737 Max-8 aircraft out. No Indian airline currently owns a Max-9 jet. Akasa Air has 22 737 Max-8 aircraft, while SpiceJet has 13 and Air India nine, according to their databases. On Monday, it said all three airlined had completed their inspections.
Then on Tuesday, the DGCA said inspections revealed a missing washer on a Boeing 737 Max plane operated by an Indian airline. Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines said they found loose hardware on their 737 Max-9 aircraft, signalling that Boeing’s issues go beyond the aircraft that made an emergency landing.
The cause of the incident has not yet been determined. The blown-out door plug has since been recovered from a schoolteacher’s backyard in Portland. It could yield important clues about why that section of the fuselage blew out at 16,000 feet.
What’s a door plug?
The door plug of the Alaska Airlines aircraft that blew out is not unique to the 737-9 Max or other Boeing planes. Low-cost carriers that pack their planes with extra rows of seats usually install this extra door as an additional path for emergency evacuation.
For full-service carriers, which have fewer seats, such doors are optional and can be permanently plugged. In the case of the Alaska Airlines plane, the door was ordered to be plugged in by Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems, which separated from Boeing in 2005. It manufactured and installed the plug door and reportedly shipped it to Boeing as ‘fitted but not completed’. This would allow Boeing to remove the plug and use the hole in the side to access the cabin and install components. Boeing ultimately reattached the door plug at its facility.
What was the DGCA’s order?
The DGCA ordered three Indian carriers, which operate 44 Max-8 aircraft between them, to conduct an inspection of emergency exits on all their Max-8 aircraft. this was done out of an abdanced of precaution, as no Indian airline currently operates a Max-9. But given that Max-8 and Max-9 belong to the same family, the DGCA deemed an inspection necessary.
On Monday the regulator said, “These checks have been satisfactorily performed… by Air India Express, SpiceJet, and Akasa. Akasa Air fleet includes one B737-8200 aircraft which has a mid-cabin door on which the operational check has also been completed satisfactorily.”
But on Tuesday, the DGCA called for another inspection of all Boeing 737 Max aircraft. “Based on information from an operator of a missing nut and washer in the Aft Rudder Quadrant on a Boeing 737 Max airplane, Boeing has recommended a one-time inspection of all Boeing 737 Max airplanes before 10 January for possible loose hardware.” If did not disclose which airline owned the plane with the missing washer.
How have Indian airlines responded?
On Monday Akasa Air, which owns more 737 Max aircraft than any other Indian airline, said there were no adverse findings from the inspection of its aircraft. “We can confirm that there are no adverse findings. We can also confirm that there was no disruption to our operations during this time,” a spokesperson said.
Air India also said it had completed its inspection and was in touch with Boeing and regulators for more information.
The airlines are now carrying out the fresh inspections ordered by the DCGA.
Fresh troubles for Boeing
Boeing Max aircraft were designed as a competitor to the fuel-efficient Airbus 320neo family of planes. The first Max jet was delivered to Malindo Air in May 2017. The aircraft, however, had issues in its computer system that caused two crashes – in 2018 and 2019 – that killed hundreds. This led to a long-term grounding of the aircraft around the world.
The first crash, in October 2018, involved a 737 Max-8 operated by Indonesia’s Lion Air and killed 189. The second incident took place in March 2019, when an Ethiopian Airlines flight, also a 737 Max 8, crashed minutes after the take off, killing 157 passengers.
Following this the FAA grounded the 737 Max. Boeing changed the automated flight control system implicated in the crashes and flights resumed in 2021, starting with US carriers. India allowed 737 Max aircraft back into service in August 2021.