Mathieu Lewis-Rolland
The Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 MAX 9 involved in a Jan. 5 midair door plug blowout that led to an emergency landing was scheduled for a maintenance check that evening.
On Jan. 4, engineers and mechanics at Alaska Air (NYSE:ALK) were so concerned of a problem that they wanted the aircraft taken out of service to take a closer look and perform maintenance, The New York Times reported.
Alaska Air (ALK) decided to have the plane conduct several flights with passengers before it was scheduled to end up at Portland International Airport, site of one of its maintenance facilities.
Based on documents and interviews, the Times said that engineers for the airline wanted comprehensive maintenance given “warning lights were triggering based on their use of ‘a predictive tool’ rather than on the number of times the warning lights had gone off, the airline said.”
The newspaper also said that evidence of a potential issue with the MAX 9 in question had been building for days and possibly weeks.
Alaska Air (ALK) told the Times there was no evidence of a link between the warning lights and the door plug blowout.
“From my perspective as the safety guy, looking at all the data, all the leading indicators, there was nothing that would drive me to make a different decision,” Alaska Air VP, Safety and Security, Max Tidwell, said.