In January, Shandy Brewer boarded an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, en route to her grandmother’s birthday celebration. She was seated in the 11th row, between her father and a stranger. Shortly after take-off, Brewer and the other passengers heard a loud bang. She couldn’t see that 15 rows behind her one of the plane’s doors had blown off, exposing passengers to open air at 16,000 feet.

Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling, and passengers began to pray. She thought they were going to crash. As the plane made an emergency landing in Oregon, Brewer hugged her father with one arm and the stranger with the other, wishing she could record a video to say goodbye to her mother.