An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to descend when a window blew out shortly after takeoff, the aftermath captured by passengers on board.
Alaska Airlines is making headlines across the globe after Flight 1282 — a brand new 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 — was forced to make an emergency landing after a window and its accompanying cabin panel blew out.
The incident occurred late Friday, January 5, shortly after the plane took off from Portland, Oregon on its way to Ontario, Canada.
Vee, who goes by ‘vee_wins‘ on TikTok, was on board at the time and filmed the harrowing aftermath as terrified passengers awaited descent.
“POV: woke up from your plane nap thinking it was turbulence,” Vee wrote, filming herself and other passengers wearing oxygen masks. The explosion as the panel blew out triggered rapid depressurization, resulting in supplemental oxygen being deployed as the plane made its way to a lower altitude to equalize cabin pressure.
Vee’s camera then revealed the large hole in the side of the plane where the panel and window blew off. “Turns out the wall of the plane flew off while in the air.”
Another passenger, Courtney who goes by ‘imsocorny‘, filmed her own experience on the flight, writing, “10 minutes into our flight we heard a loud bang and the oxygen masks dropped down. I was in the front and we had no idea what was happening at first, just that the plane depressurized extremely fast.”
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She went on to thank the pilots for their handling of the situation before stating, “Alaska Airlines has some explaining to do.”
All 174 passengers and the six crew members were unharmed, with no one seated in the row where the panel blew out. In response to the incident, Alaska Airlines has since grounded the entirety of its Boeing 737-9 fleet pending further investigation.
Boeing themselves have supported the decision to ground all flights, writing in an official statement, “Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers. We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane.
“In addition, a Boeing technical team is supporting the NTSB’s investigation into last night’s event. We will remain in close contact with our regulator and customers.”
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