Copa 737 MAX 9?
 

As some folks may have heard, there was an explosive decompression incident last night on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 aircraft in flight while climbing to altitude from Portland, Oregon. Short version: it seems as the aircraft cabin pressurized, a section of the fuselage (airplane body) blew out, opening a large (door-sized) hole in its side. Luckily, there were no fatalities but this was obviously a serious accident, the aircraft made an emergency landing and everyone aboard was OK. The FAA has now temporarily grounded all 737 MAX 9 airframes that have the same configuration (specifically those with the the same "plug" that replaces an optional extra emergency exit door, when an actual door is not installed in that spot). These planes now require an inspection before they can be flown again. (The inspection does not take very long and does not require taking much apart, but is now a requirement).

COPA also flies the 737 MAX 9 in two slightly different configurations (one with 3 rows of seats in business class, and another with 4 rows of business class) - and they both appear to have this same "plug" where an extra emergency exit door could be installed but is not present (that looks like Row 27 on COPA's 737 MAX 9, evident due to the extra space ahead of and behind the window).

The FAA has jurisdiction for all aircraft flying in US airspace, so that would include COPA's 737 MAX 9 serving LAX and other US airports.

Anyone flying on a COPA 737 MAX 9 to/from a US airport in the next few days may experience an aircraft swap or other delay, as the impacted planes can't carry passengers until the inspection is done. How long that will take is up to COPA (my guess is that most of their maintenance takes place in Panama, rather than at US outstations; this inspection should not be a major project, but there's probably a long line forming right now for airlines with these planes needing the inspection).

Anyone flying a COPA 737MAX 9 in the next day or two? Please post back here with an update on whether or not your plane got switched out or if your flight experienced other schedule disruptions caused by this.

I'm on a CM MAX9 in about a week... guessing it will be fine, but who knows?

Title should read "737"

You won't be flying a Max 9 in a week. If you are in J, it could make a big difference

We'll see how quickly they get through inspections and what's happening next. Yes in J, but the MAX9 leg of the itinerary is just a short SJO-PTY so I'm not too bothered over whether it's a lie-flat or a barcalounger.

The plug is in row 26 when there is no emergency exit. The seat map on the Copa website looks like there is an emergency exit in that row

https://www.copaair.com/assets/seats-737-MAX-A-en-.jpeg

Did you mean "The seat map on the Copa website looks like there is NO emergency exit in that row"? Looks like a standard row to me, no? If you see an emergency exit there, where exactly do you see that?

Here's how the cabin layout is shown on aerolopa. Note the spacing between windows - row 27 has lots of extra (wall) space forward of/behind the window, indicating this is the "plug" row. The window spacing on the Alaska Air "blowout" flight 1282 looks the same (and, on the COPA 737MAX, I believe the row in question is 27, not 26, due to how COPA numbers rows - see below):


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...88bf3dc673.jpg

I also think you mean "NO"

In any case, it is a moot point as the Copa birds are all grounded:

Plenty of MAX9s lined up at PTY yesterday. The "plug" is seen (I believe) by an outline and extra space 12 windows behind the real dual over-wing exit rows.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1ac70a0697.jpg

You are both right. I was on a small screen and thought the symbol above row 26 was the exit row symbol, but now that I am on a larger screen I can see that it is not.

Contrary to what's been posted in this thread, Copa has been flying the 737-9 MAX on the LAX-PTY route since the groundings. So either they have some aircraft without the plug, or they have completed some of the inspections very quickly.

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/CMP472

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/CMP473

The Copa flight from PTY-SFO was a Max 9 on Saturday, flying back to PTY early on Sunday, but yesterdays PTY-SFO flight was not the Max 9. A note on the Copa website yesterday morning indicated they would have all the Max 9's back up and running within 24 hours. We are set to fly SFO-PTY at 0045 tomorrow morning, so I'm watching the Flightaware website with great interest, as we are flying business class. I'll know what plane we are on in about 4.5 hours, after the flight from PTY-SFO takes off. Fingers crossed!

According to Flightaware, the flight from PTY-SFO has taken off and it says it's the Max 9 aircraft. Is Flightaware usually fairly accurate with that info??

Chris

Looks like there’s a Copa Max heading to SFO right now.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...42a68ce72a.png

Forgive my lack of knowledge on these details. This does seem very strange to see these Copa MAX9s in the air or recently flying. Has the US FAA released a return to service procedure yet? And if not, how are these MAX9s on flights to/from USA destinations, even if the inspections have been completed?