An American Airways 737 MAX 8 was taken out of service on Monday after punctures have been found on the wing following a flight from Medellín to Miami.
Passengers on the American Airways flight from Colombia to Miami on Monday morning observed nothing uncommon. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 flew at 36,000 ft over the Caribbean, landed in South Florida, and parked on the gate as regular.
Solely after everybody received off the airplane did anybody notice one thing was fallacious.
Throughout a routine post-flight inspection, technicians found puncture marks on the plane’s proper aileron. A number of shops, together with AirLive, reported that the harm appeared in step with bullet holes. The plane concerned was a two-year-old 737 MAX 8 (reg. N342SX) working as Flight 924 from José María Córdova Worldwide Airport in Medellín (MDE) to Miami Worldwide Airport (MIA) on Monday morning, 23 February 2026.
American Airways confirmed the invention in an announcement.
“Following a routine inspection, our groups recognized a puncture to the outside of one in every of our plane,” a spokesperson stated in feedback carried by a number of media shops. “The plane was instantly faraway from service for additional inspection and restore. We’ll work carefully with all related authorities to analyze this incident.”
The airline didn’t say the puncture was attributable to gunfire, but it surely additionally didn’t deny studies that described the harm as bullet-related.
Luckily, the flight itself operated with out incident. An American Airways spokesperson confirmed there have been no accidents or issues through the journey again to Miami. FlightAware monitoring knowledge confirmed nothing uncommon through the 3-hour, 37-minute flight over the Caribbean.
Ideally, You Don’t Need Bullet Holes in Your Plane. However the Ailerons? Oof.
What stands out is the placement of the bullet holes.
Reviews say the harm was to the appropriate aileron, a delicate and slightly essential a part of the airplane.
A single puncture on the surface doesn’t essentially imply hazard, however airways clearly take incidents like this extraordinarily critically. Underneath the wing’s floor are hydraulic elements, electrical wires, and generally gasoline tanks. Even when the harm seems small, engineers want to make sure that nothing inside was broken.
After touchdown at MIA, upkeep crews put in a brief patch over the broken space to stabilize it for a ferry flight that night to American’s foremost upkeep hub at Dallas Fort Value Worldwide Airport (DFW), the place it’ll keep grounded whereas present process repairs.
However When and The place Did It Occur?
One of many foremost questions is when the harm occurred. And the place.
The plane flew from MIA to MDE as Flight 923 on Sunday night and remained in a single day in Colombia earlier than the return journey to Florida the subsequent morning. Some studies say the puncture may need been observed in Medellín throughout a routine pre-departure verify, whereas others say it was confirmed in Miami after touchdown. We don’t need to speculate, but it surely appears extremely unlikely the crew knew in regards to the harm earlier than leaving Medellín.
Proper now, it’s not clear if the harm occurred whereas the airplane was parked or throughout a low-altitude a part of the flight. American Airways says it’s working with authorities to analyze.
This incident reminds many of comparable cases in late 2024, when a number of plane have been hit by bullets whereas flying out and in of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In these circumstances, the harm was additionally discovered after touchdown, and American Airways later indefinitely suspended flights to Haiti.
To this point, no comparable modifications have been introduced for Colombia.
