Alaska Airlines Door ‘Plug’ Flew Off Minutes After Takeoff

CHICAGO (January 9) – An Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Ore. to Ontario, Calif. was only minutes into its journey when a door plug unexpectedly blew off leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane.

The door plug malfunctioned when the aircraft reached approximately 16,000 feet, an NTSB official said during a Saturday press briefing. The hole in the side of the jet opened up where Boeing fits a plug to cover an emergency exit that the airline doesn’t use, the Associated Press reports.

The National Transportation Safety Board describes a chaotic scene as the incident unfolded. The flight crew heard a bang and the cockpit “door flew open” from depressurization, so they immediately put their masks on, but communication in the cockpit and between the crew members in the cabin and cockpit were very difficult. The force of the depressurization slammed the cockpit door into the front restroom door, damaging the restroom door, and it took a flight attendant three tries to get the cockpit door to close again. The first officer lost her headset and the captain had a portion of her headset pulled off. The captain and first officer couldn’t hear anything in their damaged headsets once they were recovered and were forced to use the overhead speaker to hear.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy stated the two adjacent seats to the dislodged part were miraculously unoccupied, and none of the 171 passengers or six crew members suffered serious injuries.

In response to the incident, Alaska Airlines temporarily grounded its entire 737-9 MAX fleet, pending inspections, resulting in the cancellation of 160 flights Saturday, impacting roughly 23,000 passengers, another 170 flights on Sunday, impacting about 25,000 passengers, and 60 for Monday, according to CBS News. The airline said it “expected additional significant cancellations through the first half of the week.”

The National Transportation Safety Board told reporters pilots reported that the same plane experienced three pressurization warnings from cockpit dashboard lights between Dec. 7 and Jan. 4., with at least one occurring in-flight.

CBS News reports the aircraft was relatively new, having been delivered at the end of October, and Alaska Airlines maintenance crews checked and cleared the light after each illumination.

The plug was later found near Portland in the backyard of a schoolteacher. The plug will likely be a key component in determining why the incident occurred.