Passengers on a recent Alaska Airlines flight had the scare of their lives when a section of their plane blew off mid-air. The Boeing 737 Max 9 suffered what could have been a catastrophic equipment failure. However, the impact of the blow-off, fortunately, did not cause any casualties. Stephanie King was a passenger on the flight and was searing in Row 12. The accident took place several rows ahead of her. According to her interview with CNN, King was flying home to California. She had been visiting Portland, Oregon.
In the middle of the flight, King recalls hearing “a loud roar of wind”. That’s when she knew that “something bad had happened”. The following moments were, obviously, extremely frightening for everyone inside the aircraft. King recalled flight attendants screaming instructions and announcements following the opening of the plane. However, the noise of the wind was far too loud for anything to be heard clearly.
A Surreal Experience Aboard Alaska Airlines
Unlike King, the passengers who were closer to the opening frantically moved away. Fortunately, there were empty seats further away from the site of the accident. King recalled one of the passengers inconsolably screaming and crying: “My son! My son! He got his shirt ripped off!” Likewise, King was immune to the scary events. As such, she had taken out her cell phone and started recording videos and drafting final messages for her loved ones. King was flying solo, so she left messages for her boyfriend and mother, explaining the current events and that she loved them although she was scared.
The Alaska Airlines aircraft had just taken off, so the return emergency landing did not take long. According to records, in less than 10 minutes, the plane was back on the ground safely. However, for King and other passengers, it was nothing less than “forever.” She added that 10 minutes was long enough to panic. It was even more possible since she heard “peoples’ cell phones and shoes and shirts got thrown out the window. Anything could’ve happened.” Firefighters immediately boarded the plane after it landed and checked for any injuries. Only after that could the passengers start de-boarding. No one suffered serious injuries among the 171 passengers and six crew. However, one person had to be taken to the hospital.
After the landing, King recalled how everything became quite calm. In fact, it was so quiet, that she felt it was eerie and unreal. King is yet to move on from the fateful Alaska Airlines flight. However, Alaska Airlines has reached out to her and provided an unspecified amount in compensation. Regardless, King remains worried about the event: “I hope something is done so that this doesn’t happen again because it went OK this time but might not next time.”
An Official Apology From Boeing
The Boeing 737 is an aircraft with many incidents in its history. The Max 9 is the latest version of the storied Boeing 737, a size larger than the Max 8. These are the two versions that are currently in service. 2018 global regulators grounded the Max 8 aircraft following a Lion Air crash in Indonesia. In 2019, another Max 8 flying for Ethiopian Airlines crashed. Boeing replaced an automated flight control system that was believed to have been the cause of the crashes.
In 2023, the FAA told pilots to limit using an anti-air system during dry conditions. Concern was that this could overheat the inlets surrounding the engines, causing them to break away and strike the plane. In December, Boeing further instructed to inspect the rudder-control system for a possible loose bolt. Going back further in history, in 1988, an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 saw its roof peeling away mid-air due to metal fatigue. In that one, a flight attendant was blown out of the airplane. In 2018, a Southwest Airlines passenger was killed following a bit of the engine housing breaking off. The piece shattered the window the passenger was sitting next to. The aircraft was a Boeing 737, although it was not the Max.
Dave Calhoun, the CEO of Boeing, issued a public apology on January 9th regarding the incident. In a company-wide statement, he explained: “When serious accidents like this occur, it is critical for us to work transparently with our customers and regulators to understand and address the causes of the event, and to ensure they don’t happen again. This is and must be the focus of our team right now.” Meanwhile, the FAA has grounded every Boeing 737 in the country in service, causing mass delays for passengers traveling on Alaska Airlines and United Airlines – the two largest users of the aircraft.
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