Alaska Airlines door panel blows out at 16,000 feet, forcing Portland landing
An emergency door panel blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday night, depressurizing the cabin and forcing the jet to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.
The Boeing 737-9 jet carried 171 passengers and six crew members, Alaska Airlines said. No injuries were immediately reported.
One mother had to hold to her child to keep him from falling out of the plane, and several passengers’ mobile phones flew out of the gaping hole in the side of the cabin, said a report on Portland TV station Fox12.
A photograph posted by another TV station, KGW8, showed that an entire emergency door appeared to be gone from the left side of the plane. KGW said a child’s shirt was blown out of the plane, but that no one was seriously hurt.
A passenger video posted on TikTok showed that the jet’s emergency oxygen masks were deployed. It also showed a flight attendant walking along the aisle speaking to passengers.
The National Transportation Safety Board immediately announced an investigation.
Girls’ trip turned into emergency landing trip… #alaska #alaskaair
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was headed from Portland to Ontario, Calif. when the door panel blew out. The plane was at an altitude of 16,000 feet when it headed back to Portland, according to data on the website FlightAware.
The plane left the gate at 4:52 p.m. Pacific time, and returned to the airport at 5:27 p.m., about 35 minutes later, the FlightAware data shows.
The Boeing 737-9 in the incident is nearly new — it was declared airworthy on Oct. 25, and was given an FAA registration number on Nov. 2, records show.
