Lars Larson: Alaska Air troubles bring turbulence

By Lars Larson
NW and national radio host,

I must confess, I like Alaska Airlines.

But this past week has not exactly burnished the Northwest company’s reputation for safe air travel.

A door plug blows out of a plane 16-thousand feet in the air creating an emergency.

Thank God everyone got to the ground safely.

Then we find out that the airline already knew that plane had problems.

Pilots got pressurization warnings three times in a row on different flights.

Alaska Airlines considered that problem BIG enough it limited THAT 737 Max to only flying over dry land.

Then the door blew out.

Did the crew on that flight get a pressurization warning light like the three previous flights?

We may never know.  The crew forgot to follow procedure and shut down the cockpit voice recorder when they landed, so, the CVR recorded OVER all the audio of what happened that night.

Meanwhile, 737 Max 9s are still grounded and other airlines are finding that the bolts on those pressurized plugs are loose.

We don’t know how many loose screws Alaska has.

As I said, not exactly the finest hour for air transportation in America.