Alaska Airlines revealed on Tuesday that Flight 1282, which experienced a door plug detachment shortly after takeoff on January 5, was scheduled for maintenance that same evening, as stated by the airline.
While Alaska Airlines did not specify the reason for taking the plane out of service, it informed The New York Times, which initially reported the planned safety inspection, that the decision stemmed from two separate warning lights alerting the crew to a potential pressurization issue over the preceding 10 days.
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), informed CNN on January 8 that the aircraft had experienced pressurization concerns before the door plug incident.
Consequently, the safety agency intended to investigate Alaska Airlines regarding the matter. However, the NTSB later clarified that it believed these pressurization warnings were unrelated to the door plug detaching mid-flight.
According to the NTSB, the warning signals began appearing shortly after the plane’s delivery in early December, with the most recent occurrence taking place the day before the door plug incident.
Max Tidwell, Alaska Airlines’ vice president for safety and security, explained to The New York Times that the airline did not view the indicator lights as significant enough to warrant grounding the aircraft earlier without passengers onboard.
Deferred maintenance, like in this case, is both common and permissible. Moreover, the aircraft completed 154 successful flights before the door plug detachment.
In its preliminary findings, the NTSB suggested that Boeing may have overlooked the required bolts in the door plug, which are intended to prevent such incidents.
Although it remains uncertain whether an expedited maintenance schedule would have identified this issue, the airline restricted the plane from operating long-haul flights over water due to engineers’ concerns about the warning lights, as reported by The New York Times.
