Boeing 737 lands in US with animal door open

Boeing is in turmoil again. An Alaska Airlines 737 MAX-8 landed on March 1 with an open cargo door containing pets, US TV channel Koin reported on Thursday. This flight, traveling from Los Cabos (Mexico), was heading to Portland (USA). The incident did not require an emergency landing.

“It was discovered that the front cargo door of Alaska Airlines Flight 1437 was not sealed. The crew received no indication that the door was opened during the flight, and all indications are that the door was partially opened after landing. Our maintenance teams inspected the aircraft, replaced the door spring, tested the door and returned it to service,” Alaska Airlines told Koin.

According to aviation specialist Joe Schwieterman, contacted by Koin, this type of incident is a “pretty serious defect.” “It affects a lot of the electrical equipment in that cargo bay. So it’s a shame to have an aircraft where some of these things were not detected,” he told US media, adding that in such circumstances the sensor should have tripped.

Several recent incidents

This Thursday, another Boeing 777 bound for Japan was forced to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles after it lost a wheel on one of its wheels during takeoff. According to local media KRON4, the tire bounced off and ended up in the airport parking lot, damaging several cars, but no one was injured.

This emergency landing occurred two months after an incident with another model of the American aircraft manufacturer. In early January, the cap holder on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 came off the cabin minutes after takeoff.

An investigation was launched by US aviation safety authorities, and the report of an independent panel appointed by the aviation regulator (FAA) highlighted deficiencies in the manufacturer’s safety systems.