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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

Lost a window and an unoccupied seat per https://old.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/18znz5p/as_1282_k...

> According to FAA record posted online, the Boeing 737-9 MAX rolled off the assembly line just two months ago, receiving its certification in November 2023.

Related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38882358 (“HN: Boeing wants FAA to exempt MAX 7 from safety rules to get it in the air“)

View on HN

The pictures clearly show that the seat is still there.

It also wasn't a window... that's a plug for an unused emergency exit location. Planes have spots in the fuselage where emergency exits can be placed if the aircraft is configured with enough seats where it needs more exits. This one wasn't, so instead of an emergency exit, there's a plug bolted into the spot instead. Would have to guess that there was a defect in this one though...

> Would have to guess that there was a defect in this one though...

"The Front Fell Off" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM

My citation could be inaccurate, Reddit post edit indicates only partial seat loss.

> Second photo shows it wasn’t the full seat. Still couldn’t imagine sitting next to a gaping hole in the aircraft.

It's not a plug door. It's an outward-opening door, apparently. [1] Usually, those things are plugs, and have to be pulled inward to open them, which is not possible when the cabin is pressurized. But there are B-737 configurations where it's an outward-opening door. For those, when there's a door installed, there's a single solenoid to prevent opening it in flight.[2] Is there some kind of dummy door that's installed if that location is not set up as an exit?

I'd thought that outward-opening doors on passenger aircraft had gone away after the DC-10 disasters with them.[3] Apparently not.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFNU0cc29OQ

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zyxy3naQh0

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_96

This was the (regular) rear door that Alaska effectively papers over.

Even if that is the case, it shouldnt been an issue. The DC10 problem was due to insufficient safety mechanism that allowed for crew to unknowingly close the door without engaging the safety lock.

Here's the safety mechanism for this door.[1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zyxy3naQh0

The Turkish airlines crash was even worse. And it happened almost two years later after the FAA was fine with a gentlemen's agreement instead of an airworthiness directive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines_Flight_981

For anyone that doesnt know, McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing.

r/merged/lobotomized

Prevent manual opening in flight, if that's the actual mechanism. That torque tube still has to be forcefully rotated to open.

The seat was unoccupied. The guy in the middle seat had his shirt torn off. Also cellphones got sucked out, and one iPhone survived in mint condition.

Wear. Your Seatbelts.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2024/01/alaska-airlines-flig...

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/iphone-survives-1600...

According to the NYT report, there was no one seated in the seat by the window (which is still there in pictures). That is very lucky. The child seated in the aisle of that row had his shirt ripped off by the depressurization.

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