by Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, Alaska Beacon February 1, 2024 In the wake of the in-flight blowout of the side of a Boeing 737 Max 9, federal regulators have grounded planes and are stepping up scrutiny of Boeing’s manufacturing process. The Jan. 5, 2024, explosive decompression after takeoff was related to a component called a “door plug” being ejected from the fuselage of the aircraft. This was after three prior flights of that plane had registered warning signals about cabin pressurization.