CNN —Alaska Airlines flight 1282, on which a door plug blew off the side of the plane shortly after takeoff on January 5, was scheduled to be taken out of service for maintenance the night of the incident, the airline said Tuesday. Such deferred maintenance is common and legal, and the plane had made 154 successful flights before the blowout. It’s not clear that an expedited maintenance schedule would have led Alaska Airlines to discover that problem. “The U.S. aviation system is the safest in the world because it relies on layers: redundant systems, robust processes and procedures, and the willingness to stop and ensure things are right before every takeoff,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement. Although the revelation that the plane was scheduled for service the same day as the blowout does not necessarily suggest any wrongdoing by Alaska Airlines, it does raise further concerns about policies and regulations surrounding maintenance of America’s fleet of aircraft.

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Persons: Jennifer Homendy, Max Tidwell Organizations: CNN, Alaska Airlines, New York Times, National Transportation Safety, NTSB, Boeing, The New York Times