Grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9s affecting Chicago flights
CHICAGO (CBS) -- All Boeing 737 Max 9s are currently grounded until they can be inspected. This comes just days after a door plug flew off an Alaska Airlines flight just 10 minutes after takeoff.
United Airlines was feeling a slight impact at O'Hare International Airport Sunday night as they waited for another briefing from the FAA following the incident.
O'Hare is a major hub for United Airlines, so they have additional aircraft on hand.
CBS 2's Darius Johnson spoke with some passengers who said their flight on a 737 Max 9 was canceled, and they had to get on a different aircraft to make it to their destination.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was bound for Ontario, California, after leaving Portland Friday. At 16,000 feet a door plug flew off, leaving a gaping hole and depressurizing the cabin with 177 people on board.
"Probability is that every once in a while there's going to be a problem," said traveler Danny Orleans. "But what was so great to read about that report of that Max flight, there were no injuries, no deaths. Everybody was safe."
After only being in service for months, the FAA is suspending the aircraft until inspections are complete.
"Now the inspection requires those panels to be removed," said Gregory Feith, a former senior crash investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. "And mechanics actually look at the structure to see if it's intact, if there's any cracks, any missing rivets, anything that looks out of the ordinary."
Feith said inspections could take between four and eight hours and should not cause much of an impact.
"Hubs like Chicago, Denver, Washington Dulles, L.A., places like that, because a majority of the fleet may be at the hub, the airlines can substitute other aircraft to continue scheduling and try and keep it on track," he said.
United has a fleet of 79 of the 737 Max 9s.
On Sunday the airline canceled 180 flights. Eighty-five were saved by swapping aircraft. As of 9 p.m. Sunday, 79 flights were canceled out of O'Hare.
"i think the disruptions will be minimal," said Feith.
While some passengers are checking to see what aircraft they're on before they board, others, like Orleans, are waiting to sit and listen to the pilot.
"The pilot said, 'If you're wondering or worried about whether this plane is one of those airplanes like the Max, it's not.'"
United Airlines says it has already started removing the inner panel to access the emergency door and begun preliminary inspections while awaiting final instructions. In the meantime, the FAA is asking for the public's help in locating that door panel.
