Boeing plane loses door, other issues found @ in thread

[neverfstop]

This board usually  loves airplane stories!   

SUMMARY -->
*Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane lost a filler door shortly after take off 
*Plane returned to Portland and landed safely
*Luckily nobody was sitting in that window seat, but several people lost phone and some other plane parts
*Door was found in somebody's backyard
*In-tact, unbroken, still on iPhone found after falling from 16K feet
*FAA grounded all other similar Boeing planes
*United found loose screws on their similar planes
*This part supplier had issues in the past & Boeing has had numerous issues with these MAX planes

[neverfstop]

some pictures

[Susie]

Jan 9, 2024 11:32:22 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

*In-tact, unbroken, still on iPhone found after falling from 16K feet

Marketing gold for whatever company made the case that was probably on that phone!

[InBetweenDays]

This article gives a crazy account of the people sitting in the row right in front of the hole.

@@@@
The article references a mom and 15 yo son.
www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/when-hole-opened-on-alaska-flight-1282-a-mom-held-tight-to-her-son/

[georgeglass]

InBetweenDays,that article. Holy shit.

[noodleoo]

Jan 9, 2024 12:56:11 GMT -5 georgeglass said:

InBetweenDays ,that article. Holy shit.

@@@@

HOLY SHIT indeed. I'm tearing up thinking about what that must have been like for that mom and her child.  So fucking scary.

[aspentosh]

I just cannot even imagine. That article makes me sick to my stomach.

[InBetweenDays]

It's crazy to me that this plug door can blow off, passengers can be struggling to stay in the plane, yet other passengers (and sounds like maybe flight attendants) didn't realize there was a hole in the side of the plane!

Also, here you pass 10,000' and get the ding and the flight attendants say you can use approved devices but keep your seatbelts fastened because we're still climbing. Last week we flew Japan Airlines (we actually flew the same route as the accident last week in Tokyo but we flew it 27 hours prior to the accident) and both times as soon as we hit 10,000' the seatbelt sign was turned off. Not criticizing because obviously their staff is well trained for emergencies and they take safety seriously, but just noted the difference (and with this Alaska flight it was a good thing the sign was still on).

[gretchenindisguise]

Jan 9, 2024 12:04:09 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

This article gives a crazy account of the people sitting in the row right in front of the hole.

@@@@
The article references a mom and 15 yo son.
www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/when-hole-opened-on-alaska-flight-1282-a-mom-held-tight-to-her-son/

@@@ I'm really glad I read that after my kid got home safe and sound last night on an Alaska airlines flight.

[Bad Dingo]

This is so scary to me. There were alarms 3x on previous flights before the door blew off on this one. They are finding issues with many more of these planes.

@@

@@@ There were babies being held in arms, what if they'd been sitting in that row and their parents weren't holding them tightly?!

[TR]

Jan 9, 2024 12:04:09 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

This article gives a crazy account of the people sitting in the row right in front of the hole.

@@@@
The article references a mom and 15 yo son.
www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/when-hole-opened-on-alaska-flight-1282-a-mom-held-tight-to-her-son/

Holy shit, his shirt and windbreaker were ripped off?!

[wanderingback]

Jan 9, 2024 17:14:27 GMT -5 Bad Dingo said:

This is so scary to me. There were alarms 3x on previous flights before the door blew off on this one. They are finding issues with many more of these planes.

@@

@@@ There were babies being held in arms, what if they'd been sitting in that row and their parents weren't holding them tightly?!

@@@

This is sort of a tangent but does anyone know why with the 2 airlines I’ve flown with a lap infant they won’t let you keep the baby in a carrier strapped to you for take off and landing? Is it in case of emergency the baby in the carrier would be more of a hindrance?

[penguingrrl]

Jan 9, 2024 18:19:10 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Jan 9, 2024 17:14:27 GMT -5 Bad Dingo said:

This is so scary to me. There were alarms 3x on previous flights before the door blew off on this one. They are finding issues with many more of these planes.

@@

@@@ There were babies being held in arms, what if they'd been sitting in that row and their parents weren't holding them tightly?!

@@@

This is sort of a tangent but does anyone know why with the 2 airlines I’ve flown with a lap infant they won’t let you keep the baby in a carrier strapped to you for take off and landing? Is it in case of emergency the baby in the carrier would be more of a hindrance?

From what I’ve always heard/read it’s because wraps/baby carriers haven’t been tested and a theory that being strapped to an adult could be riskier in an accident because the adult’s weight will crush them.

[InBetweenDays]

Jan 9, 2024 17:14:27 GMT -5 Bad Dingo said:

This is so scary to me. There were alarms 3x on previous flights before the door blew off on this one. They are finding issues with many more of these planes.

The NTSB has said that so far they have found no correlation between the auto pressurization light and the loss of the door plug. Maybe more will come out as they do further investigation, but they said the cabin pressure controller is a triple redundant system. The primary and secondary systems are computer controlled and then it has a manual controller. In all three instances the primary system failed, but the secondary system operated correctly.

[SusanBAnthony]

Jan 9, 2024 18:24:03 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

Jan 9, 2024 18:19:10 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

@@@

This is sort of a tangent but does anyone know why with the 2 airlines I’ve flown with a lap infant they won’t let you keep the baby in a carrier strapped to you for take off and landing? Is it in case of emergency the baby in the carrier would be more of a hindrance?

From what I’ve always heard/read it’s because wraps/baby carriers haven’t been tested and a theory that being strapped to an adult could be riskier in an accident because the adult’s weight will crush them.

My youngest is 13 but I definitely wore both my kids strapped to me in planes as babies. I wonder if that rule changed or if they just don't enforce it always. Or if it looked like I was just holding the kid because it was a fabric wrap.

[sonrisa]

Jan 9, 2024 17:51:13 GMT -5 TR said:

Jan 9, 2024 12:04:09 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

This article gives a crazy account of the people sitting in the row right in front of the hole.

@@@@
The article references a mom and 15 yo son.
www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/when-hole-opened-on-alaska-flight-1282-a-mom-held-tight-to-her-son/

Holy shit, his shirt and windbreaker were ripped off?!

and his mother physically held him to try and keep him in the plane as his seat twisted to get free (but luckily never did). Can you imagine?

[penguingrrl]

Jan 9, 2024 19:41:22 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

Jan 9, 2024 18:24:03 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

From what I’ve always heard/read it’s because wraps/baby carriers haven’t been tested and a theory that being strapped to an adult could be riskier in an accident because the adult’s weight will crush them.

My youngest is 13 but I definitely wore both my kids strapped to me in planes as babies. I wonder if that rule changed or if they just don't enforce it always. Or if it looked like I was just holding the kid because it was a fabric wrap.

I think it’s not consistently enforced. The only time I flew with a baby I was required to take them out of the carrier and that kid is 16 now.

[aurora]

I'm glad nobody was injured. I can't even imagine being in one of those nearby seats when that happened. Thin, cold air at 16,000 ft (higher elevation than anywhere in Colorado for perspective) rushing by at something like 400 mph while the plane is rapidy depressurizing?

[tiki]

Obviously it's fantastic that the seats directly next to the plug that failed were empty. But also, doesn't that seem surprising? Have we heard whether someone missed the flight? I just can't remember the last time I was on a flight that had empty seats at all, let alone a window seat.

[tacokick]

Jan 9, 2024 22:15:17 GMT -5 tiki said:

Obviously it's fantastic that the seats directly next to the plug that failed were empty. But also, doesn't that seem surprising? Have we heard whether someone missed the flight? I just can't remember the last time I was on a flight that had empty seats at all, let alone a window seat.

I think there were a few empty seats on the flight because the teenager who was near the hole was able to move to one further up the plane. So was his mom and the other person in their row.

[hermione]

No one came to help until they pressed the call button and then the flight attendant looked shock? Is it really possible flight crew did not know this happened??

[Velar Fricative]

Jan 10, 2024 9:52:00 GMT -5 hermione said:

No one came to help until they pressed the call button and then the flight attendant looked shock? Is it really possible flight crew did not know this happened??

I'm wondering about that too. The pilots wouldn't have landed the plane shortly after takeoff if they didn't think anything was wrong, unless they just got other alerts in the cockpit from their equipment that didn't explain what the situation was but informed them that they had to land the plane asap. But it's troubling that at least one crew member in the cabin didn't know what happened given that passengers reported very loud noises. But then again, the woman interviewed by the paper said she couldn't even hear the passenger next to her so maybe the crew couldn't hear anyone else shouting about what was going on and perhaps they were instructed to sit down and buckle up for the emergency landing? 

[Saudade]

The pilots would have been alerted immediately to a depressurization event but wouldn't necessarily know what would be the cause. I imagine once the FA knew, they would have alerted the pilots to the exact cause.

@villainv may have more insight.

[underwaterrhymes]

@@@

We just flew to Vegas on United on a Boeing 737 Max 9.

Obviously our flight was fine, but the same flight number has been grounded by United this week.

I am grateful that our flight was not affected and my heart was in my throat reading that mom’s account. I do not know that I would be able to be as composed as she was.

[moreace01]

And the other woman who helped the mom and son get their oxygen masks on while they were trying to not get sucked out the door. The story is harrowing.

[taratru]

There's no world in which I'd be sitting 8 rows away from my kid after that, not even for 15 minutes. How terrifying.

[noodleoo]

Jan 10, 2024 10:50:18 GMT -5 taratru said:

There's no world in which I'd be sitting 8 rows away from my kid after that, not even for 15 minutes. How terrifying.

I thought the same thing at the end.  I assume they were in shock and didn't really know what to do at that point.

It is crazy that the FA's weren't aware of the huge hole.  The oxygen masks were deployed, so they must have known something was wrong, but maybe they have to buckle up so they can't walk the plane to see.

[InBetweenDays]

Jan 10, 2024 9:52:00 GMT -5 hermione said:

No one came to help until they pressed the call button and then the flight attendant looked shock? Is it really possible flight crew did not know this happened??

I saw an account from someone sitting towards the front of the aircraft. She said they knew something happened because of the sound, rush of air, and the masks dropped. But had no idea there was a hole in the side of the plane. Some people thought an engine blew, etc. She didn't know until they landed the full extent of what happened. So definitely then seems possible that the flight attendant, who had been buckled in when it happened since it was still climbing, didn't know until they saw it.

[gummy]

The flight attendants knew something happened. They're taught a lot about depressurization in their training. I would be shocked if they truly had no idea there was a hole in the plane somewhere. It's more likely they didn't realize the extent. They also wouldn't be leaving their oxygen masks until receiving clearance from the pilots. If they were in their galleys vs in the aisle when the event happened, it's possible they didn't lay eyes on it until later. At 16,000 ft they may not have even left their jumpseats yet.

[krystee]

I can’t imagine how terrifying that must be. How incredibly fortunate that the two closest seats in the impacted row did not have anyone in them. What are the chances of that?! I think every window seat has been full on every flight I’ve been on for the last several years.