Alaska Air passenger describes ‘trip from Hell’
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Passengers aboard an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland to Ontario, California said it was “a trip from Hell” when a door blew off on the Boeing 737 Max 9 at 16,000 feet, KCBS reports.
The aircraft reached approximately 16,000 feet about six minutes into the flight before beginning its descent, according to FlightAware.
“We’re declaring an emergency,” the pilot said. “We do need to come down to 10,000.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the crew reported a “pressurization issue.” Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board said they were launching investigations.
FAA orders grounding of some Boeing 737 Max 9s after window blows out from PDX-departing flight
At PDX, outgoing passengers on Saturday told KOIN 6 News they were aware of what happened Friday night but weren’t overly concerned.
“Very freak accidents are very rare and miniscule,” a passenger named Julya told KOIN 6 News. “I’ve been flying with Alaska almost my entire life so I have a trust with them. Accidents happen so I don’t have a problem with that.”
Corey Mostafa, who was flying from Portland to Santa Rosa, said the fact the 737s were grounded was a good idea.
“I heard some of the 737s, that particular model, are being grounded so I’m not too concerned. But it’s kind of troubling to hear about it,” Mostafa said. “It’s definitely troubling it would happen even once. but I am glad they did ground those planes going forward.”
Passenger Jessica Montoia told KCBS that, for some reason, she wasn’t afraid.
“No one really screamed or anything,” she said. “One of the guys that was there, his shirt was sucked out and his phone was sucked out and, you know, and the pilot, just faith of God, he, he got us landed. And as soon as we landed, the paramedics were in, the fire department was in, checking who was injured and, you know, they were fabulous. And it was a trip from Hell.”
Montoia, who described herself as “very religious,” said the sound of the door blowing off was very loud.
“I mean, for it to suck the guy’s t-shirt off and take his phone off his hand, you know? I mean, I’ve seen it in the movies, but yeah, but this is real,” she said. “So anyway, but it’s done, it’s over with. By the grace of God we’re here.”
Seattle aviation lawyer, pilot calls Alaska plane incident ‘preventable’
Statements
Just after 11:30 p.m. Friday, Alaska Airlines CEO, Ben Minicucci reacted to the incident, stating:
At Alaska Airlines, safety is our foundational value and the most important thing we focus on every day. Following tonight’s event on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft. Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections. We anticipate all inspections will be completed in the next few days.
I am personally committed to doing everything we can to conduct this review in a timely and transparent way.
Boeing, the manufacturer of the plane in question said:
“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 (Friday) event.”
Midday Saturday, Alaska Airlines said 18 of the 737 Max 9 planes passed inspection and returned to service.
An investigation into the incident is underway by both the NTSB and the FAA.
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