Alaska Airlines Door Blows Away Mid-Air
Alaska Airlines flight 1282 had to make an emergency landing just 30 minutes after one of the aircraft’s emergency doors blew off mid air at 16,300 feet shortly after takeoff on 5th January 2024.
Alaska Airlines flight 1282 faced one of the worst mid-air horrors when one of the aircraft’s emergency doors blew off mid-air at 16,300 feet shortly after takeoff on 5th January 2024. The flight was a Boeing 737-9 jet carrying 171 passengers and 6 crew members. It was traveling from Portland International Airport in Oregon to Ontario International Airport in California, USA. Soon after takeoff from Oregon, a door plug (a panel installed to replace an optional emergency exit door) blew out leading to uncontrolled & rapid decompression of the flight. Immediately after the panel blew off, the oxygen masks were deployed and used by passengers. Recordings of the flight’s pilot captured the moments after the plane part was blown off. The pilot said “Portland approach, Alaska 1282 emergency! Aircraft is now leveling 12,000 in a left turn heading three four zero”. The force of the depressurization slammed the cockpit door into the front restroom door, damaging the restroom door, and it took a flight attendant three tries to get the cockpit door to close again. The first officer had lost her headset and the captain had a portion of her headset pulled off. It took a while for them to recover their headsets and contact the Air Traffic Control. The captain and first officer couldn't hear anything in their damaged headsets once they were recovered so they used the overhead speaker to hear. The flight was immediately diverted back to Portland, Oregon and made an emergency landing there. The plane left the gate at 4:52 p.m. local time, and returned to the airport at 5:27 p.m., about 35 minutes later. Upon landing, the passengers were received and rescued by the fire department and multiple ambulances. The photos that have gone viral on social media show an entire emergency door panel ripped off from the left side of the plane. While the incident has caused no deaths or major injuries, it has left the passengers frightened. According to the eyewitnesses, One mother had to hold on to her child sitting closest to the damaged part to keep him from falling out of the plane. The same child’s shirt got blown out and his skin was reddened due to wind pressure. Several passengers’ mobile phones & belongings flew out of the gaping hole in the side of the cabin. One of the passengers posted a video of the incident on TikTok. The video showed that the jet’s emergency oxygen masks were deployed and flight attendants walking along the aisle speaking & instructing to passengers. The Boeing 737-9 Max is a brand new aircraft model. It had only recently obtained its airworthiness certificate on Oct. 25, 2023 by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had announced an immediate investigation of the incident and Alaska Airlines & FAA had temporarily grounded all Boeing 737-9 Maxs to carry out a full maintenance and safety inspection of every aircraft before being returned to service. A few days after the incident, the blown off panel was found near Portland in the backyard of a schoolteacher. On 9th January 2024, United Airlines (a different airline) during the inspection of their Boeing 737-9 Maxs found an installation issue in the door plugs of the aircraft series and concluded that the bolts needed ‘additional tightening’. Alaska Airlines claims it has since found "some loose hardware" on some Boeing 737-9 Maxs. USA’s NTSB chief Homendy told reporters that different pilots reported that the same plane model experienced three pressurization warnings, from cockpit dashboard lights, between 7th December 2023 and 4th January 2024 out of which at least one occurred in-flight. According to the reports, this is not the first time that a Boeing 737 Max series has faced this challenge. The 737 Max series are designed for enhanced fuel efficiency but have often faced safety issues. Previous accidents off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia had led to a global grounding of the 737 Max fleet for almost 18 months due to flawed flight control software. Boeing had faced accusations of prioritizing profit over passenger safety following the earlier accidents. The further investigation is in process. The FAA, NTSB, Boeing, Alaska Airlines, Airline Pilots Association and Association of Flight Attendants are all investigating the incident.
