An Alaska Airlines flight flying from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, suffered a catastrophic door blowout while climbing 16 thousand feet on Friday, Jan. 5th. The incident involved a door plug, serving as an additional emergency exit. When it blew out, the sudden depressurization sucked out several small items, such as headrests and cell phones. A large gaping hole formed, and numerous passengers recorded videos of the incident as it unraveled. The plane involved was a 737 Max 9.
One filmed video shows the large gaping hole approximately 15 feet away. Outside the hole, stars and lights from the ground could be seen. The pilots swiftly declared an emergency and performed a safe emergency landing in Portland. In a stroke of enormous luck, no one was seated directly next to the hole, and nobody was sucked out or seriously injured. A teenager that was seated directly ahead of the hole had his shirt blown off, and a nearby passenger named Kelly Bartlett described what happened, saying: “I just couldn’t believe that he was sitting there and what he must have gone through, what he must have been feeling at the time.” The noise of the hole was so loud that flight attendants were forced to communicate with the boy using his iPhone notes app. The boy typed that he was okay but had received bruises.
The incident has drawn back into the limelight the ongoing controversies about Boeing’s 737 Max Jets. In just the span of a few months between late 2018 and early 2019, two 737 Max flights crashed after unexpectedly entering nosedives. Both incidents were caused by faults with the plane’s computer flight systems. After the second of those two incidents, 737 Max Jets were grounded notoriously for years.
Although some people fear flying, it is still considered the safest mode of transportation by far. Studies have shown that the likelihood of being in a plane crash is around 1 in 11 million, while the odds of being involved in a car accident after driving 1000 miles are 1 in 366. As a result of necessary repairs and maintenance, all 737 Max Jets currently in service remain grounded until further notice.
