📌Flight: The Complete History of Aviation (Smithsonian)

Boeing, a major player in the aerospace and defense industries, experienced a significant drop in its stock value on January 8-9, 2024. One of the primary reasons for this is an incident involving Alaska Airlines flight 1282.

The 737-9 MAX plane took off from Portland International Airport for Ontario, California, with 171 passengers and six crew members on board. The crew had to make an emergency landing due to a door blowing off shortly after take-off. This incident led to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounding up to 171 of these planes.

Although a thorough investigation is still ongoing, early reports point to a defective door plug as the potential cause of the malfunction. The door plug fell off during the flight’s ascent, causing the cabin to depressurize and exposing passengers to open air thousands of feet above ground.

In the aftermath of the incident, both United and Alaska Airlines reported finding loose hardware on some of their Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes during preliminary inspections. Specifically, bolts that needed “tightening” were found on some Boeing 737 Max 9s.

Boeing has stated that it fully supports the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of certain 737 Max 9 planes. The affected planes will not fly until they are inspected and repaired, if necessary. This incident is just the latest in a series of challenges for the Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

Investors reacted negatively to this news, leading to an 8% drop in Boeing’s stock value. This incident marks another setback for Boeing, which has been struggling to regain investor confidence due to a series of production issues in 2023.

Aside from the Alaska Airlines flight, other historical precedents of doors blowing off mid-flight include United Airlines Flight 811 in 1989.

United Airlines Flight 811 was a regularly scheduled flight from Los Angeles, United States to Sydney, Australia, with stops at Honolulu, Hawaii and Auckland, New Zealand. On February 24, 1989, the Boeing 747-122 (registered N4713U) operating the route suffered a failure in a cargo door, resulting in an explosive decompression.

The flight departed Honolulu, Hawaii at 01:52:49 (HST) routing to Sydney, Australia via Auckland, New Zealand, with 337 passengers, three flight crew and 15 cabin crew on board.

The resulting explosive decompression blew out several rows of seats, killing nine passengers. The aircraft returned to Honolulu and landed with no further incident.

Sources

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/30309-today-in-history-united-airlines-flight-811
https://www.united.com/en/us/flightstatus
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-01-alaska-airlines-max-jet-blowout.html
https://shippai.org/fkd/en/cfen/CB1071009.html
https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/transport_airplane/accidents/N73711
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67899564

Business and Industry

Questions

Why has Boeing's stock dropped in price?