On January 5, a tragic incident happened on Boeing flight 377 through Alaska Airlines from Portland International Airport heading for Ontario, California. The plane held 171 passengers, and also six crew members. When the flight reached about 16,000 feet in the air, only a couple minutes into takeoff, the side panel of the plane detached, creating a hole in the wall in row 26 of the plane. The pilot declared an emergency landing and many of the passengers started to panic. Some of the passengers have posted videos and photos of the huge hole on the side of the plane. Oxygen masks immediately came down after the hole appeared, and passengers reported that they heard a loud, booming pop noise, and felt a strong gust of freezing wind hit them in the face. Passengers towards the front of the plane had no idea what was happening. A couple of weeks after the incident, four of the passengers are suing the companies for, “‘intense fear, distress, anxiety, trauma [and] physical pain,.'” While none of the passengers were seriously injured, they reported that they felt like they were getting sucked out of the plane by their feet. Videos have gone viral on social media platforms of the huge gap in the plane, and it looks terrifying to just be dangling that high in the air. Luckily, there was no one sitting in the two closest seats to the gap. While thankfully, no people got sucked out of the plane, some objects did, including an iPhone. This Phone was found by Sean Bates, who posted on social media that the phone was perfectly intact, was opened to the baggage information, and was still in airplane mode. He reported finding the phone under a bush, with not even a scratch on it. A teacher in Portland, Maine, found the panel from the plane lying in his backyard a couple of days after the incident. Overall, this accident was a shock to many and was terrifying to anybody on the plane, yet luckily it didn’t cause any major injuries.
Due to 171 planes being grounded since the accidents, many flights were canceled in the past couple of weeks. After many inspections from the FAA, on Friday, January 26, a Boeing plane 377 took off and landed successfully. It was the first time the plane had been in the air since the accident. One of the passengers on the plane was the Alaska Airlines C.O.O., and they sat in the seat right next to the door plug. But before the plane was allowed to take off again, it had to go through multiple inspections. According to CNN, the inspections did find that some of the other door plugs were not installed correctly and that the results were sloppy for the Boeing 377 planes. Some of the passengers said that they felt safe going on the plane because they knew it had been through so many inspections. But Boeing is still struggling to earn back the loyal customer’s trust.
Works Cited
“‘This is the end’: Alaska Airlines passengers sue over door plug blowout.” ABC, abcnews.go.com/US/boeing-alaska-airlines-door-plug-lawsuit/story?id=106417379.
“‘We were going to die’: Passengers on Alaska Airlines jet speak out about door plug blowout.” ABC, abcnews.go.com/US/die-passengers-alaska-airlines-jet-speak-door-plug/story?id=106250955.
“Alaska Airlines timeline: How incident involving missing door plug unfolded.” ABC, abcnews.go.com/US/timeline-incident-involving-missing-door-plug-boeing-737/story?id=106191494.
“Boeing CEO on 737 blowout: ‘We caused the problem.'” CNN, www.cnn.com/2024/01/31/business/boeing-results-outlook-dave-calhoun/index.html.
“See the iPhone that survived getting sucked out of an Alaska Airlines plane and fell 16,000 feet.” CBS, www.cbsnews.com/news/iphone-sucked-out-alaska-airlines-plane-fell-16000-feet-found-still-works/.
