(CMR) The US airline regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has ordered the grounding of some Boeing 737 Max 9 jets after part of one plane fell off during an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday.
A section of the Alaska plane, a fuselage plug, reportedly blew off the aircraft during the plane's ascent leaving a hole. A boy’s shirt was reportedly sucked off his torso and out through the hole as the mother held the boy.
Firefighters were called to assess minor injuries after the landing, and one person was taken to the hospital, but no serious injuries were reported, CNN reported.
The flight had reached 16,000 feet after taking off from Portland, Oregon, bound for Ontario, California, about 5:07 p.m., according to FlightAware. It landed safely about 20 minutes later back at the airport, with no serious injuries among the 171 passengers and six crew members.
Passenger Emma Vu told CNN passengers comforted each other during the frightening ordeal.
“The flight attendant came over, too, and told me it was going to be OK. The fact that everyone was kind of freaking out and she took that time to kind of make me feel like I was the only passenger – honestly that was really sweet.” Vu told CNN.
Just last week Boeing urged airlines to check planes for a possible loose bolt after one airline found the bolt loose.
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