FAA Investigating Boeing After Door Panel Falls Off Midflight

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that it’s launching an investigation into Boeing after a plug sealing off an emergency exit ripped off midair on an Alaska Airlines flight last week.

The FAA said it has notified Boeing of the investigation, which will determine whether the aircraft manufacturer failed to confirm that the design of its 737-9 Max jets were safe.

“This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again,” the FAA said in a statement, adding: “Boeing’s manufacturing practices need to comply with the high safety standards they’re legally accountable to meet.”

News of the investigation follows an incident last Friday in which an Alaska Airlines flight took off from Portland, Oregon, only to have a panel plugging an emergency exit blow out shortly after takeoff. The jet carrying 171 passengers returned to Portland without any serious injuries on board.

An official with the National Transportation Safety Board described the harrowing incident at a news conference Sunday, saying the rush of air into the jet damaged several rows of seats, ripped insulation from the walls, forced open the cockpit door and ripped the headsets off the captain and co-pilot.

The FAA responded by grounding every Max 9 aircraft configured with a door plug sealing up an emergency exit. Alaska and United Airlines ― the only U.S. airlines using the Max 9 ― have the door plugs in place because they’ve configured their Max 9 jets to accommodate a maximum of 180 passengers, necessitating fewer emergency exit doors.

While the emergency exit door is held shut by air pressure, making it impossible to open midflight, the door plugs are held in place by bolts and look like a regular part of the cabin wall from