A passenger plane lost a part of the fuselage in the air and had to make an emergency landing on Friday in the American state of Oregon, the BBC writes.

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 returned to Portland after a 35-minute flight to California after part of its fuselage, including a window, was missing during the flight.

Alaska Airlines said there were 177 passengers and crew on board and that the plane “landed safely.”

A passenger on the flight, Kyle Rinker, told CNN that the window shattered immediately after takeoff.

The airline said it would “temporarily” ground all 65 of its 737 Max 9 planes for inspections.

Boeing said it is aware of the incident and is “working to gather more information.”

“Each aircraft will only be returned to service after a full maintenance and safety inspection has been completed,” said Ben Minicucci, CEO of Alaska Airlines.

Minicucci praised the efforts of the crew aboard the plane, which according to flight tracking data was at an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet when the emergency descent began.

The US National Transportation Safety Board announced late on Friday that it had opened an investigation after an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff from Portland, Reuters reported.

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, bound for Ontario, California, experienced an incident shortly after takeoff and landed safely back in Portland at 5:26 p.m. PT with 174 passengers and six crew members on board, according to the airline and Flightradar24.

Posts on social media showed that a window and part of the plane’s fuselage were missing.

According to a photo of the plane’s exterior on social media, the affected area was at the rear of the plane.

It appears that part of the fuselage may be used as an additional emergency exit door by some operators of this type of aircraft, but not Alaska Airlines, the BBC reports.

The new MAX 9 was delivered in late October to Alaska Airlines and certified in early November, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Reuters noted.

“While this type of event is rare, our flight crew was trained and prepared to handle the situation safely,” the airline said in a statement. “We are investigating what happened and will share more information as it becomes available. Stay tuned.”

Experts say the incident demonstrates the importance of passengers not wearing seat belts while on an airplane, even if the warning light is off.

“Any time you have a decompression that fast, it’s a serious safety event,” said Anthony Brickhouse, an aviation safety expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “I can’t imagine what those passengers went through. I have to do it.” loud. The wind could have been whipping around that cabin. It was probably a pretty brutal situation and certainly a scary situation.”

Last week, Boeing said it was urging airlines to inspect all 737 MAX planes for a possible loosening of a propeller in the rudder control system.

The FAA said it is closely monitoring inspections of the Boeing 737 MAX and will consider further action if more loose or missing equipment is found.

The 737 MAX was grounded for 20 months worldwide after 346 people died in two plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 in Ethiopia and Indonesia.

Boeing is awaiting certification for its smaller 737 MAX 7 and larger MAX 10.