Six passengers on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 whose door panels were blown off have sued Boeing, demanding compensation for physical and mental injuries.
Six passengers and a relative filed a lawsuit against the aircraft manufacturer Boeing in a Seattle court on January 11. The plaintiffs' attorney, Daniel Laurence, said they suffered concussions, bruises, difficulty breathing, bleeding from the ears, and psychological trauma after the Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane's fuselage disintegrated mid-flight on January 5.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland, Oregon, bound for Ontario, California. Just 20 minutes later, the plane carrying 177 people was forced to make an emergency landing when a door panel bolted to replace the emergency exit door blew off in mid-air.
“This horrific experience caused economic, physical and emotional damage that deeply affected our clients,” Laurence said in a statement. Passengers also alleged that many of the oxygen masks on the plane were ineffective.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun admitted on January 9 that he was at fault for the crash. Attorney Laurence said Calhoun’s statement was the impetus for the class action lawsuit.
Boeing declined to comment on the statement from its lawyers.
The door seal was blown off on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft during the incident. Photo: Reuters
Following the incident, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suspended operations of all 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft for inspection, causing many flights to be canceled.
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines said on January 8 that they discovered loose screws on many Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft during preliminary inspections, raising concerns among industry experts about the manufacturing and licensing process of Boeing's best-selling aircraft.
The FAA said on January 9 that Boeing is revising its inspection and maintenance guidelines, which need to be approved by the agency before being applied to the 171 grounded 737 MAX 9s.
The new incident could deal a serious blow to Boeing’s reputation, which has already been severely damaged by the fact that the 737 MAX 8 was grounded worldwide following two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. Investigations into those crashes found multiple problems with the design of the 737 MAX 8’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), but the FAA has not yet fully disclosed the details.
Duc Trung (According to Washington Post )
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