
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A employee walks previous Boeing’s new 737 MAX-9 underneath building at their manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington, U.S., February 13, 2017. Picture taken February 13, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Redmond/File Photo
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia quickly grounded three Boeing (NYSE:) 737 MAX 9 planes on Jan. 6, operated by Lion Air, regardless of completely different configurations from the aircraft that needed to make an emergency touchdown within the U.S. final week, the transport ministry mentioned on Monday.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the short-term grounding of 171 Boeing jets put in with the identical panel that tore off an eight-week-old Alaska Airlines jet on Friday, forcing an emergency touchdown with a spot within the fuselage.
The door plug blew off the left facet of the Alaska Airlines jet following takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en path to Ontario, California, forcing pilots to show again and land safely with all 171 passengers and 6 crew on board.
Three Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes, the one ones Indonesia had, have been grounded ranging from January 6 till additional discover, mentioned Adita Irawati, a transport ministry spokesperson.
The Lion Air planes had a “mid cabin emergency exit door type II” whereas the Alaska Airlines aircraft had a “mid exit door plug,” Adita mentioned.
“This means the system in the mid-section of emergency doors were functional and could be used for evacuation,” Adita added.
The ministry will coordinate with the FAA, Boeing and Lion Air to watch the scenario, including that “operational safety will be our priority.”
A Lion Air spokesperson mentioned the airline is conducting additional inspection of the planes to make sure the emergency door mechanism works usually.