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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Alaska jet makes forced landing

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

CHANTILLY, Va. – An Alaska Airlines flight bound for Seattle had to turn around and make an emergency landing early Saturday at Washington Dulles International Airport after the aircraft did not pressurize properly, according to airport officials.

Flight No. 1 took off at 8:03 a.m. from Reagan National Airport just outside the nation’s capital, but about six minutes into the flight, the pilot realized there was a problem with the cabin pressure, said Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Caroline Boren.

“The most convenient place to land at that point was Dulles,” Boren said.

The jet had only reached an altitude of 5,000 feet when the pilot noticed the problem, so emergency air masks did not have to be deployed, Boren said.

Once the aircraft landed at Dulles, maintenance crews determined a rear door had not been latched properly. They sealed the door, and the jet took off again by 9:15 a.m. without any more problems.

The Saturday emergency landing followed two other incidents earlier in the week involving Alaska jets.

On Friday, an Alaska flight en route to Chicago returned to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport about a half-hour after takeoff because of a suspected fluid leak, a spokeswoman said.

Concerns about Flight 22, a Boeing 737-700, were raised by personnel on another aircraft who reported seeing a possible leak, airline spokeswoman Amanda Tobin said.

The plane was inspected on its return and “there was no indication of a fuel leak,” Tobin said. Returning to SeaTac “was the right thing to do as a precautionary measure,” she said. “In the end, it was merely precautionary.”

What might have been seen was possibly a small amount of fuel coming out of the vent drain at the end of the plane’s wing, which is designed to allow small amounts of excess fuel to exit the aircraft, she said.

On Tuesday evening, an Alaska jet bound for Denver turned around about 15 minutes after departure when a warning alarm sounded in the cockpit, indicating a malfunction in the plane’s automatic pressurization system.

When that plane returned, it was greeted by the Port of Seattle Fire Department. Medics treated five people for ear and sinus pain before they were taken to area hospitals.

In late December, an Alaska Airlines jet lost cabin pressure at 26,000 feet because of a foot-long gash in its fuselage. The Burbank, Calif.-bound plane returned to SeaTac and landed without incident. No one aboard the Boeing MD-80 was injured.

Investigators said a ramp worker struck the airplane with a baggage-handling vehicle while it was at the gate. The hit caused a crease in the airplane’s aluminum skin, which opened up as the plane reached 26,000 feet.