India News | DGCA Directs Airlines for One-time Inspection of Emergency Exits on All Boeing 737-8 Max Aircraft

New Delhi [India], January 6 (ANI): The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday directed all Indian air operators to carry out a one-time inspection of the emergency exits immediately on all Boeing 737-8 Max aircraft currently operating as part of their fleet.

This comes after an Alaska Airlines flight that took off from Oregon's Portland on Friday returned to the airport for an emergency landing after experiencing an "incident" after departure.

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"Pursuant to the Alaska Airlines incident involving Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft, there have been no inputs or guidance from Boeing so far. None of the Indian air operators have a Boeing 737-9 Max as part of their fleet yet. However, as an abundant precautionary measure, DGCA has directed all the Indian air operators to carry out a one-time inspection of the emergency exits immediately on all Boeing 737-8 Max aircraft currently operating as part of their fleet," DGCA said in a post on X.

"Aware of the incident involving Alaska Airlines Flight AS1282. We are working to gather more information and are in contact with our airline customer. A Boeing technical team stands ready to support the investigation," Boeing said in a post on X.

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Earlier, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which had been bound for Ontario, California, experienced an incident soon after departure and landed safely back at Portland with 174 passengers and six crew, about 20 minutes after takeoff, as reported by Reuters.

Social media posts showed a window and a portion of a side wall missing on the aeroplane, and oxygen masks were deployed.

The cause of the diversion was not clear. However, local media has reported an extreme depressurization of the aircraft, citing passengers, and posted photos that seemed to show a large window section of the plane missing.

According to flight data published by the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, the flight had reached 16,300 feet before descending and arrived about 20 minutes after taking off. Allison Ferre, a spokeswoman for the Port of Portland, which oversees Portland International Airport, said it was a safe emergency landing.

According to Alaska Airlines, flight 1282, which uses a Boeing 737-9 Max, an updated version of the Boeing model, was heading to Southern California, according to The Washington Post report.

"We are aware of the incident involving Alaska Airlines Flight #AS1282. We are working to gather more information and are in contact with our airline customer. A Boeing technical team stands ready to support the investigation," Boeing Airplanes said in a statement on X.

Alaska Airlines said the aircraft has landed safely at Portland International Airport. (ANI)

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