US-AVIATION-ACCIDENT

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft with registration N966AK sits grounded near a maintenance hangar at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 2024. A flight tracking website shows the aircraft arrived from Portland, Oregon, on January 5, the same day as another aircraft suffered a blow out of the rear mid-cabin exit plug door and rapid decompression after takeoff from Portland, requiring an emergency landing. US air safety regulators have completed inspections on 40 grounded 737 MAX planes, authorities said Wednesday, in an update that did not specify when the aircraft would return to service. The inspections are part of the process the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is using to set protocols, before the jets are cleared for service in the aftermath of a near-catastrophic incident on an Alaska Airlines plane earlier this month. US regulators have grounded 171 737 MAX 9 planes with the same configuration as the jet involved in the incident. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)