Frightening incident on Boeing MAX lead aviation attorneys questions whether officials need to examine if certifying the plane as safe for flying was hasty

Alaska Airlines has grounded the Boeing MAX9 jets after a window and a chunk of the fuselage blew out of the plane shortly after takeoff, causing the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, late Friday night (Jan. 5, 2024). Photos from the plane that was able to land safely reportedly show a large hole in the plane’s side.  Oxygen masks apparently were deployed indicating that the passenger cabin had been depressurized.  Minor injuries were reported among the 174 passengers and six crew members following the emergency landing of Flight 1282 that took off from Portland International Airport about 5 p.m. 

After about six minutes of flight, while climbing through 16,000 feet altitude at close to 450 mph, the Boeing 737 MAX left aft door plug reportedly failed under cabin pressurization and flew out into the atmosphere, instantly depressurizing the airplane and subjecting all passengers to extreme cold temperatures and hypoxia-inducing low oxygen levels. About 14 minutes of terror later, the infamous Boeing 737 MAX airliner landed back at Portland where NTSB and FAA safety investigators are once again investigating a major 737 MAX safety problem.  

Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, commented: “This incident forces the aviation community, particularly government regulators, to determine if allowing the Boeing MAX8 was allowed to fly again too hastily in Boeing’s efforts to get those planes back in the air. Documents have proven that Boeing was more interested in profits over safety, particularly when Airbus had just released a new aircraft.  Were the problems and defects on the MAX just quickly worked out in balancing revenues instead of putting safety first in order to get those planes back in the air? The public interest in safe travel requires a closer look at Boeing’s priorities and processes.  It must have been completely frightening for all of those passengers on Flight 1282 not knowing if those were their last moments of life” 

Robert A. Clifford is Lead Counsel in the litigation involving the tragic crash of a Boeing MAX8 aircraft shortly after takeoff in March 2019 in Ethiopia that killed all 157 on board. It was the second crash of the MAX8 within five months and led to the nearly two-year worldwide grounding of the plane before it was allowed to fly again. Clifford Law Offices represents the families of some 70 victims who were on Flight ET302 that crashed shortly after takeoff nearly five years ago in Ethiopia.  It was reported that a mother and small boy sitting in the row of the blown-out window caused the boy’s shirt to be sucked off of him and out of the plane in the Portland incident.

While the civil litigation is pending in federal district court in Chicago, a conspiracy to commit fraud case against Boeing is pending in Texas.  That case questions the Deferred Prosecution Agreement that was entered into by the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve all criminal charges against Boeing executives in the two MAX8 crashes to determine if the misrepresentations about the aircraft while seeking safety regulation exemptions made by Boeing executives amounted to fraud.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board reportedly are on the scene examining the damaged aircraft that reportedly rolled off the assembly line two months ago and is touted as the newest version of the Boeing 737.

Image: compilation of photos by KTLV, Business Strandard & CNN