From Fortune:

Activating the immediate grounding of some Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners, federal officials are inspecting these planes after an Alaska Airlines flight suffered a blowout that caused a gaping hole in the fuselage. This inspection is expected to affect about 171 aircraft globally, taking around four to eight hours per plane. Alaska Airlines states that the inspections for its affected 65 Max 9 planes will be completed in the coming days. There has not been a major crash involving a U.S. passenger carrier within the country since 2009, reducing the risk of danger for domestic flights.

Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, experienced a fuselage blowout just minutes after takeoff, leading to a safe emergency landing. Passengers and crew involved in this incident were extremely lucky, given that the plane had not reached cruising altitude, and no one was seriously injured during the emergency landing. The remaining aircraft inspections are expected to take days and Alaska Airlines has expressed its collaboration with Boeing and regulators to understand what caused the incident. This move resulted in over 100 canceled flights by Alaska Airlines and approximately 60 by United. Flight 1282 took off from Portland at 5:07 p.m. Friday for a two-hour flight to Ontario, California. About six minutes later, the chunk of the fuselage blew out as the plane was at about 16,000 feet (4.8 kilometers).

The plane manufacturer, Boeing, has had its fair share of issues with the 737 Max series. Two devastating crashes involving Max 8 jets led to the world grounding these planes for almost two years. Only last year the FAA issued a warning to pilots concerning the anti-ice system on the Max, citing the possibility of a part breaking away and potentially striking the plane. Given the troubled history of the Max series, experts are astonished that a piece of fuselage would fall off a new aircraft. The ordeal that Flight 1282 passengers experienced serves as a reminder to stay buckled in and cautious during flights.



Read more: Federal officials order 171 Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft grounded for inspection