A senior NTSB retired inspector explained on CNN that maintenance involving change of seat locations in the plane could have required the removal of the panel. TBC.
I often try to book (emergency) exit rows just so I am afforded a bit more legroom. Judging by the first YouTube image in post #31, it doesn't appear (to my eyes at least) that was an emergency exit as there is a row of seats blocking egress. So the explanation of a blanking panel in lieu of a door makes sense. Surely aircraft types are certified for operation based on standard design, which I imagine should include operational emergency exits. The removal of emergency exits, presumably to accommodate an extra row of seats, doesn't make sense to me.
There are regulations dictating when it is acceptable to do so. Don’t worry about it.
Wow! That's a long way! Washington state, I take it, as in Seattle? Good use of a train though, it doesn't have to be there in 5 minutes and they are big ungainly things too big for roads.Now that the planes are grounded, they still travel:
No, the pic isn't a fake. That's how the 737 fuselages travel from the factory in Kansas to the main assembly plant in Washington.
www.bbc.co.uk
Your pasted paragraphs leave out that the recent faults were to do with cabin conditioning (air con/pressurisation) and nothing to do with a plug popping out.Alaska Airlines placed restrictions on the Boeing plane involved in a dramatic mid-air blowout after pressurisation warnings in the days before Friday's incident, investigators say.
The jet had been prevented from making long-haul flights over water, said Jennifer Homendy of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The NTSB also says the missing section of plane has now been found - in the back garden of a Portland teacher.
No-one was hurt in Friday's drama.
Speaking at a news conference, Ms Homendy said pilots reported pressurisation warning lights on three previous flights made by the specific Alaska Max 9 involved in the incident.
The decision to restrict lengthy flights over water was so that the plane "could return very quickly to an airport" in the event the warnings happened again, the NTSB chief added.
It is not clear if there is a link between the issues that led to those warnings, and the issue that caused the blowout on 5 January.
Alaska Airlines plane had warnings days before mid-air blowout
The jet involved in Friday's incident had been prevented from long trips over water, US investigators say.www.bbc.co.uk
With the emergency exit door in question already fitted.Now that the planes are grounded, they still travel:
No, the pic isn't a fake. That's how the 737 fuselages travel from the factory in Kansas to the main assembly plant in Washington.
What we don't know is what those warnings were about. I could imagine, for instance, if the pressurisation was working harder than expected to maintain cabin altitude, that might be relevant.
I very much doubt it. When flying at 37,000ft with a cabin altitude of 8,000ft, the pressure differential is huge. At 16,000ft, relatively, it’s tiny.
