Alaska Airlines flight with pet arrives with cargo door open

trip

by alex mitchell

here we go again.

Embattled Alaska Airlines is at the center of a second aviation drama last Friday when its plane arrived at an airport gate in Portland, Oregon, with its cargo door open.

According to local TV station KOIN, a passenger's pet was kept in the cargo hold, but the animal was not injured. The plane arrived from Los Cabos, Mexico.

Alaska Airlines said in a statement to KOIN, “There was no indication to the crew that the door had been opened during boarding.” [last Friday’s] During the flight, all signs point to the door being partially opened after landing. ”

“Our maintenance team inspected the aircraft, replaced the door spring, tested the door and returned it to service,” the Alaska Airlines statement concluded.

The newspaper has contacted Alaska Airlines for comment.

Alaska Airlines made headlines in January when a door plug blew off mid-air during a flight from Portland to Ontario, California.

Although the company seems to be downplaying the problem, aviation expert Joe Schwieterman told KOIN that the cargo door opening by itself is a “pretty serious flaw.”

“It affects a lot of electrical equipment in the cargo hold. So it's a problem that there are planes where something like this wasn't detected,” he said.

Boeing and Alaska Airlines are already in a $1 billion lawsuit over plane safety. The head of the National Transportation Safety Board also warned that the January incident could be repeated.

The plane was a Boeing 737 MAX 8.

Meanwhile, on Friday, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 fell off the runway at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, forcing the evacuation of all passengers.

The United flight was scheduled for Memphis, Tennessee.