- An Alaska Airlines flight from Portland to Ontario, California, was forced to make an emergency landing after experiencing a loss of pressure after takeoff
- Alaska Flight 1282 took off from Portland shortly after 5 p.m. local time on Friday when, at 16,000 feet, a window shattered and ripped off a child's shirt
- A child reportedly had to be restrained in his seat by his mother and other passengers lost their phones, which were sucked out of the plane
An Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, was forced to make an emergency landing at Portland Airport less than an hour after takeoff due to a loss of pressure.
Alaska Flight 1282 took off from Portland shortly after 5 p.m. local time on Friday when, at 16,000 feet, a window shattered, a child's shirt was ripped off and passengers' phones were sucked out of the plane.
The Boeing 737-9 MAX rolled off the assembly line just two months ago and received its certification in November 2023, according to FAA records posted online.
Several passengers told KPTV that the plane's oxygen masks were immediately deployed and several people used the masks while waiting for the plane to land at PDX.
Another passenger told the outlet that a child had to be restrained in his seat by his mother and people lost their phones, which were sucked out of the plane.
Alaska Flight 1282 took off from Portland shortly after 5 p.m. local time on Friday when, at 16,000 feet, a window shattered and ripped off a child's shirt
The Boeing 737-9 MAX rolled off the assembly line just two months ago and received its certification in November 2023, according to FAA records posted online
A few hours ago, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 returned to PDX for an emergency decompression. This aircraft is only 3 months old. pic.twitter.com/7NMr5Vs3ZU
— Chuck Mahon (@ChuckMahon) January 6, 2024
It is not yet clear whether anyone on board was injured in the incident.
Alaska Airlines published on
In videos posted on social media, passengers can be seen sitting quietly and wearing oxygen masks as the plane returns to the runway.
The video shows the lights of Portland visible through the gaping hole in the plane's wall.
Boeing introduced its 737 Max in 2015 and has become one of the most widely used aircraft in the world since receiving certification from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in 2017.
A year later, the first crash occurred: In October 2018, a 737 Max from the Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 189 passengers.
Five months later, in March 2019, a second 737 Max – this one operated by Ethiopian Airlines – crashed again shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 on board.
Three days later, the FAA grounded the planes.
Alaska Airlines published on
The Alaska plane returned to Portland Airport less than an hour after takeoff
The wreckage of the Ethiopian Airlines flight is seen on March 11, 2019
It later emerged that Boeing employees had been cavalier about FAA regulations in internal communications and criticized the Max's design.
One said the plane was “designed by clowns who are in turn supervised by monkeys.”
Errors were discovered in the aircraft's MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System): in both the Lion Air and Ethiopian Air crashes, it was discovered that the MCAS had incorrectly pointed the nose down toward the ground and the pilots failed to override it could.
In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve allegations that the company concealed key information about the Max from regulators and the public .
Boeing spent billions overhauling the systems and the planes returned to global skies in fall 2020 after being grounded for 20 months – the longest such operation in aviation history.
Alaska Airlines' brand new Boeing 737 Max bursts in mid-air, causing a loss of pressure that rips off child's shirt on flight back to Portland airport: High-tech jet suffers two fatal crashes