On Jan. 5, Flight 1282 Alaska Airlines passengers experienced a dangerous inflight experience. While heading to Ontario, California from Portland, Oregon was abruptly cut short when less than 10 minutes after takeoff of the Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft, a door panel was suddenly ripped from the aircraft. At around 16,000 feet above sea level, parts of headrests, two iPhones, a shirt and more fell from the aircraft due to the sudden change in pressure within the cabin.
Thankfully, seats 26A and 26B, seats directly next to the panel, were unoccupied, but every passenger on the flight was greatly at risk due to exposure to lower levels of oxygen, causing the air masks to deploy.
A little after 5 p.m, Flight 1282 had an emergency landing, which passengers said was not any scarier or bumpier than a typical landing. Once the plane safely landed, passengers with minor injuries were taken by paramedics and all other passengers departed the plane as normal.
Due to the accident, all Boeing 737-9 Max aircrafts from United Airlines and Alaska Airlines were grounded until thorough investigations by the Federal Aviation Administration took place. These investigations are very extensive and can range from four to eight hours for just one aircraft.
These investigations were extremely necessary because although the number of defected aircrafts has not been announced, it has been reported that multiple loose bolts have been found on some aircrafts.
While the logistics of how the accident occurred are still unknown, the location of the door panel has been found in the backyard of teacher Bob Sauer’s home leaving an unusual surprise for his Monday morning.
