Boeing asked the FAA to exempt the new model of its deadly 737 Max jet from safety inspection – even though it could lead to an engine failure just weeks before the Alaska jet suffered a fuselage deflection in mid-air

Boeing has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to exempt the latest variant of its killer 737 Max plane from safety inspections, despite the risk of engine failure.

FAA officials said Boeing was working to resolve the hazard that could cause the engine casing to overheat and break off during flight, the Associated Press reported.

In the meantime, federal officials told pilots flying the 737 Max 7, which is not yet used by airlines, to limit the use of an anti-icing system in some circumstances to prevent damage that “could lead to loss of control of the aircraft.' The 737 Max 7 is the smallest aircraft in the Max family and can accommodate 138 people.

Boeing requested an exemption from safety standards inspections until March 2026, which would include checking engine intakes and anti-icing systems, so the model can be rolled out to airlines for commercial use.

Boeing's request came just weeks before one of its larger model 737 Max 9 jets was forced to make an emergency landing after a dramatic mid-air fuselage explosion.

Alaska Flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX, carried 171 passengers and six crew

Alaska Flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX bound for Ontario, California, was leaving Portland just after 5 p.m. local time on Friday when a deactivated emergency door serving as a regular cabin window blew out at 16,000 feet. The controversial plane was carrying 171 passengers and six crew members.

The catastrophic failure depressurized the cabin, with the force of the air rushing in tearing the shirt of a young boy whose mother was holding him. Passengers also watched as their phones were sucked into the night sky.

Miraculously, no injuries were reported on board the aircraft, which only entered service in November 2023.

The FAA has now grounded at least 170 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets to conduct immediate safety inspections.

The FAA will inspect the aircraft's mid cabin door plug reported the New York Times.

This plug has been implemented in the design of some aircraft that do not require full emergency use because they have fewer seats than the original design.

Alaska Airlines also took the planes off the air, with CEO Ben Minicucci announcing that the planes will not return to the fleet until preventive maintenance procedures are completed, which he expected “in the coming days.”

The airline confirmed in a statement on Saturday afternoon that it had begun inspecting the door plugs and had already cleared 18 of its 65 Max 9s to return to service.

Federal officials told pilots flying the 737 Max 7, which is not yet used by airlines, to limit the use of an anti-icing system under certain circumstances. Boeing 737 9, 8 and 7 aircraft are pictured in this view shared by the aviation company

Miraculously, no injuries were reported on board the aircraft, which only entered service in November 2023

A photo shows the blown out window. It is offered as a door on the plane. Alaska chose not to take this option – even though the frame of the future door was completely torn out due to the hull failure

Boeing unveiled their 737 Max 9 in 2015 and since its approval by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in 2017, it has become one of the most widely used aircraft in the world.

But it has a deeply troubled reputation and plunged Boeing into the biggest crisis in the history of the Chicago-headquartered company.

A year after the plane entered service, it crashed for the first time: in October 2018, a 737 Max operated by the Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board.

Five months later, in March 2019, a second 737 Max operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed again shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board.

Three days later the planes were grounded by the FAA.

It later emerged that in internal messages, Boeing staff were more cavalier about FAA rules and critical of the Max's design – particularly a computer system responsible for both fatal crashes.

One of them said the plane was “designed by clowns who are in turn supervised by monkeys.”

The 737's design dates back to the 1960s, and Boeing was criticized for adding large engines to an old airframe instead of using a clean sheet design.

Flaws were discovered in the aircraft's MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System): in both the Lion Air and Syrian Air crashes, it was determined that the MCAS had incorrectly pointed the nose towards the ground, and the pilots could not adjust it to ignore.

Wreckage of Syrian Airlines Boeing 737-MAX aircraft is seen on March 11, 2019

A Lion Air Boeing 737-MAX crashed in Badung Bali in 2013 after overshooting the runway at Bali Ngurah Rai Airport

The FAA was heavily criticized for giving Boeing too much freedom to conduct its own safety checks, rather than subjecting itself to stricter third-party inspections.

In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle charges that the company hid critical information about the Max from regulators and the public.

Boeing spent billions overhauling the systems and the planes returned to global skies in the fall of 2020 after 20 months on the ground – the longest such action in aviation history.