Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-Max suffers window BLOWOUT after taking off from Portland Airport

An Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California was forced to make an emergency landing back at Portland International Airport less than an hour after takeoff after suffering depressurization.

Terrifying audio recordings reveals the panicked moment the pilot radioed air traffic control to say ‘we’d like to get down.’ 

‘We need a divert. We’ve declared an emergency. We have 177 passengers on board and a seal is…18,900’ the pilot can be heard explaining. 

Alaska flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX, left Portland just after 5pm local time on Friday when an emergency door blew out at 16,000 feet.

Passengers reported hearing a ‘really loud boom’ before a ‘deathly’ silence fell over the cabin as the plane made its emergency landing.  

The Boeing 737-9 MAX rolled off the assembly line just two months ago, receiving its certification in November 2023, according to FAA record posted online

The emergency exit doors are designed to open inwardly and cannot be pushed outwards, according to Airline Reporter

Elizabeth, 20, told Oregon Live how ‘it sounded like your ears were popping like normally on a plane, but 10 times louder. I couldn’t believe it was real.’

‘We were all calm,’ she said of her fellow passenger, ‘but I did feel like I was about to cry, because who knows this could be my last few moments.’ 

Another passenger, Kyle Rinker, 29, said the plane became ‘deathly silent. Nobody made a noise.’ 

Reports suggest that fortunately 26A, the seat next to what appears to have been an emergency exit with a window, was not occupied. 

The emergency exit doors are designed to open inwardly and cannot be pushed outwards, according to Airline Reporter. 

The National Safety Transport Board said it was investigating the event and will post any updates when they are available. 

The Boeing 737-9 MAX rolled off the assembly line just two months ago, receiving its certification in November 2023, according to FAA record posted online. 

Several passengers told KPTV that the airplane’s oxygen masks deployed immediately, and multiple people used the masks as they waited for the plane to land at PDX.

Another passenger told the outlet that a child had to be held in his seat by his mom. 

Reports suggest that fortunately 26A, the seat next to what appears to have been an emergency exit with a window, was not occupied

Reports suggest that fortunately 26A, the seat next to what appears to have been an emergency exit with a window, was not occupied

Alaska Airlines posted on X that they were ‘aware of an incident’ aboard their flight AS1282 and said they would release more information as it becomes available

The Alaska plane returned to Portland Airport less than an hour after takeoff

Passengers recalled how the depressurization ripped a child’s shirt off and sucked passengers phones out of the plane. 

‘Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, experienced an incident this evening soon after departure’ Alaska Airlines said in a statement late Friday night. 

‘The aircraft landed safely back at Portland International Airport with 171 guests and 6 crew members’ it read. 

‘The safety of our guests and employees is always our primary priority, so while this type of occurrence is rare, our flight crew was trained and prepared to safely manage the situation.’  

Adding: ‘We are investigating what happened and will share more information as it becomes available.’ 

In videos posted to social media passengers can be seen sitting calmly wearing oxygen masks as the plane returns to the runway. 

Video shows the lights of Portland visible through the gaping hole in the aircraft’s wall.

Alaska Airlines rebooked passengers on an 11 pm flight out of PDX, according to traveler Diego Murillo, who told KPTV the airline had not yet told him anything about the incident. 

Alaska Airlines rebooked passengers on an 11 pm flight out of PDX

In videos posted to social media passengers can be seen sitting calmly wearing oxygen masks as the plane returns to the runway

Wreckage of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-MAX plane is seen on March 11, 2019

A Lion Air Boeing 737-MAX crashed in Badung Bali in 2013 after it overshot the runway at Bali Ngurah Rai Airport 

‘We are aware of the incident involving Alaska Airlines Flight #AS1282. We are working to gather more information and are in contact with our airline customer’ Boeing said in a statement on Friday night. 

Adding: ‘A Boeing technical team stands ready to support the investigation.’ 

Boeing unveiled their 737 Max in 2015, and since its Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) approval in 2017 has become one of the most widely used aircraft in the world.

A year later it had its first crash: in October 2018 a 737 Max operated by Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed shortly after take off, killing all 189 on board.

Five months later, in March 2019, a second 737 Max – this one operated by Ethiopian Airlines – crashed again shortly after take off, killing all 157 on board.

Three days later the planes were grounded by the FAA.

It later emerged that Boeing staff, in internal messages, were cavalier about FAA regulations and critical of the Max’s design.

One said it the aircraft was ‘designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys.’

The 737 design dates back to the 1960s and Boeing was criticized for adding large engines to an old airframe instead of using a ‘clean sheet design’.  

Faults were discovered in the aircraft’s MCAS, or Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System: the MCAS was found in both the Lion Air and Ethiopian Air crashes to have erroneously pointed the nose down towards the ground, and the pilots were unable to override it.

In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to settle charges the company hid critical information about the Max from regulators and the public.

Boeing spent billions overhauling the systems and the planes returned to global skies in the fall of 2020, after being grounded for 20 months — the longest such action in aviation history.