Boeing 737 MAX 9 pilot: "I didn't know there was a hole in the plane" (9 photos + 1 video)

On January 5, 2024, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 was flying a scheduled flight from Portland to Ontario. Shortly after takeoff, a section of the fuselage fell off the plane. Co-pilot Emily Viprood described what happened.





"First I felt a pop in my ears, and then I was pushed forward hard. The cockpit door opened and I saw oxygen masks hanging in the cabin," Viprood recalled.

The depressurization occurred just six minutes after takeoff. There were six crew members and 171 passengers on board.



At the time, the pilots didn't know that the emergency exit panel on the left side of the fuselage had blown off, but they knew there had been a serious incident.

Investigators said the new Boeing 737 MAX 9 had four bolts missing from the plug, causing the panel to blow off.

"I didn't know there was a hole in the plane until we landed. I remember putting on my oxygen mask, trying to contact air traffic control, and wondering why I couldn't hear anything," Viprud said.





At one point, she opened the cabin door and looked at the passengers, who she said remained calm and composed, and then asked the flight attendants if everything was okay.

One of the flight attendants responded that there were empty seats and casualties. The crew feared they had lost several passengers.



"I reported that there was a hole in the back of the plane and five empty seats. I said that we probably had lost passengers," a flight attendant with 20 years of experience told the National Transportation Safety Board.

The woman was worried about an unaccompanied child: "All I could think was that he was too small to reach the mask and was probably very scared."

The teenager sitting next to the hatch had his shirt ripped off.



Flight 1282 returned to Portland. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. Three people suffered minor injuries and filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Alaska Airlines and Boeing, claiming that both sides ignored obvious problems.



Kyle Rinker, his girlfriend Amanda Strickland, and another passenger, Kevin Kwok, filed a lawsuit in Multnomah County, Oregon.





Emily Viprood had 8,300 total flight hours at the time of the incident, while the captain had 12,700 hours.

Viprood and her colleague were awarded the 2023 ALPA Superior Airmanship Award for their skill and professionalism.

"My captain is a real hero. As are the flight attendants, all the staff who supported us that day. And this should be celebrated. We all survived," the American concluded.