An Alaska Airlines flight made an emergency landing yesterday in Oregon, in the northwest United States, after several of its 177 passengers reported that one of the windows had detached following takeoff, as stated by the company, according to Agence France-Presse. The Federal Aviation Administration indicated via X that the flight, designated as 1282, took off from Portland International Airport around 5 PM before returning safely after the crew reported a pressure issue.
Images posted on social networks showed a window detached in the aircraft, with oxygen masks hanging down. One passenger, named Kyle Rinker, told CNN that the window was torn off immediately after takeoff. He said, "It was quite a shock. As soon as the plane lifted off, the window panel detached, and I didn’t notice it until the oxygen masks dropped down."
Another passenger, identified as Vi Nguyen, recounted to The New York Times that she woke up due to a loud noise during the flight. She said, "I opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was an oxygen mask right in front of me. I looked to the left and the side window was gone." She added, "The first thing that came to my mind was that I was going to die."
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, along with Alaska Airlines, announced they are investigating the incident. The airline stated in a release that the plane landed safely at Portland International Airport with all 171 passengers and six crew members onboard.
They confirmed that the flight crew was trained and prepared to safely handle such a situation, despite the rarity of such incidents. FlightAware indicated that the aircraft, a Boeing 737 MAX 9, took off at 5:07 PM local time, headed for Ontario, California, and returned to the airport approximately 20 minutes later. The aircraft was certified in October, according to available Federal Aviation Administration records. Boeing stated on X that they are working to gather more information and that a technical team is at the disposal of investigators.
