PORTLAND—Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 departing Portland International Airport to Ontario, California, on Friday night, made a return emergency landing after a rear mid-cabin exit door assembly separated from the fuselage in mid-air depressurizing the 10-week-old airplane.
🚨 BREAKING: Alaska Airlines Performs Emergency Landing AfterWindow Blows Out
Items such as phones were sucked out of the plane when it depressurized.
Passengers are safe. pic.twitter.com/hpxXmb4NXW
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 6, 2024
Alaska Airlines CEO, Ben Minicucci, announced the grounding of all 65 Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft for full maintenance and safety inspections that will last several days.
“My heart goes out to those who were on this flight – I am so sorry for what you experienced,” Minicucci wrote in a statement released on the airline’s website and X. “I am so grateful for the response of our pilots and flight attendants. We have teams on the ground in Portland assisting passengers and are working to support guests who are traveling in the days ahead.”
Minicucci added, “I am personally committed to doing everything we can to conduct this review in a timely and transparent way.”
Flight 1282 and our next steps with the Boeing MAX-9: https://t.co/LFxJvQYNcA pic.twitter.com/oemRokr1tz
— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) January 6, 2024
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 departed Portland on January 5, 5:06 p.m. local time and was back on the ground in Portland at 5:26 p.m. and arrived back to the gate at 5:30 p.m. according to flightradar24. All 171 guests and 6 crew members landed back safely.
“It was really abrupt, just got to altitude and the window/wall just popped off,” Kyle Rinker, a passenger on flight 1282 told CNN.
The Boeing 737-9MAX aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 16,325 feet when, 20 minutes into the flight, the incident occurred. Part of the unoccupied passenger seat next to the blown-out mid-cabin exit door was sucked out of the plane along with personal items such as mobile phones and a child’s shirt being ripped off. NTSB reports that there were no reported injuries.
🚨#UPDATE: More photos show the damage after the severe depressurization of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. The flight was operated by a Boeing 737-9 MAX, which rolled off the assembly line just two months ago and received certification in November 2023. pic.twitter.com/nBiCwJbDpm
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) January 6, 2024
Boeing released the following statement on X concerning the incident: “We are aware of the incident involving Alaska Airlines Flight #AS1282. We are working to gather more information and are in contact with our airline customer. A Boeing technical team stands ready to support the investigation.”
For high-density seating configurations, the Boeing 737-9MAX facilitates a rear mid-cabin exit door just after the wings to meet evacuation requirements in case of an emergency, flightradar24 reports.
Another exterior view of the Boeing 737-9 MAX involved in the incident tonight. pic.twitter.com/mLGOf4dz7n
— avgeekjake (@avgeekjake) January 6, 2024
The plane’s identification number, N704AL, entered commercial service on November 11, 2023, as a brand-new aircraft and accumulated 145 flights including Friday’s incident.
The National Transportation and Safety Board announced that it has launched a Go Team to Portland to investigate the event involving Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 and will release any updates regarding the investigation when made available.
Update: NTSB has launched a Go Team to Portland, Oregon to investigate an event with a Boeing 737-9 MAX during a flight from Portland to Ontario, California. No serious injuries were reported. https://t.co/VK0xF487xo
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) January 6, 2024
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on January 6 the temporary grounding of all U.S.-operated Boeing 737-9 airplanes with a mid-cabin door plug installed for immediate inspections.
RELATED ARTICLE
ARTICLE UPDATE(S)
- [6:05 p.m., January 6, 2024]: Added FAA grounding all US-operated Boeing 737-9 aircraft
- [5:52 a.m., January 6, 2024]: Added NTSB updates
- [5:30 a.m., January 6, 2024]: Added statement from Alaska Airlines of grounding of all 65 Boeing MAX-9 aircraft.
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