There’s a hole in row 26: Inside the cabin of Alaska Airlines flight 1282

First, there was a pop. And then a big bang as air whooshed out of the gaping hole at row 26. Gasps of shock filled the plane as oxygen masks dropped from overhead with those on board fearing they were ‘literally going to die’.

The damaged part of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, Flight 1282, which was forced to return to Portland International Airport on January 5. Picture: X

First, there was a pop. And then a big bang.

Air whooshed out of the side of the aeroplane, which was flying at 16,000 feet with an emergency exit-size gash. A cellphone, a giant teddy bear and a passenger’s shirt were sucked out the hole in the cabin. Oxygen masks dropped from overhead compartments.

Passengers on Alaska Airlines flight 1282 -- which on Friday afternoon was en route to Ontario, Calif., from Portland International Airport -- were fearful for their lives. The flight, however, landed back at the Portland airport less than 30 minutes after takeoff, with 171 passengers and six crew members aboard, all of them alive.

Federal air-safety investigators are now probing the incident, which has renewed questions about Boeing, the plane’s manufacturer, and Spirit AeroSystems, one of its main suppliers. Regulators in the US have ordered airlines to conduct inspections for dozens of the type of plane Alaska was flying -- the 737 MAX 9. Boeing has said it is cooperating with the investigations.

“We literally thought we were going to die,” said Sreysoar Un, who was on the flight with her 12-year-old son Josiah McCaul. They were seated in Row 27 in seats C and D, the aisle seats one row behind the section that ripped away.

A chunk of the plane blew out at row 26 of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. Picture: INSTAGRAM/@STRAWBERRVY/REUTERS

Before flight 1282 took off Friday, the temperature was in the low 40s, typical for Portland this time of year. It wasn’t raining, said Christopher Hickman, a 44-year-old passenger seated in row 8. The flight was scheduled to depart at 4:40 p.m. PT, but left a bit later. Airport crew de-iced the plane before it took off.

The flight was nearly full, with just a few empty seats, including the left window seat at row 26. It was dark inside the cabin -- night had fallen, the seatbacks didn’t have screens, and the plane’s lights had been dimmed for takeoff.

The plane left the gate at 4:52 p.m., according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. It took off shortly after 5 p.m.

About 15 or 20 minutes into its ascent, a chunk of the plane blew out at row 26. The decompression was “explosive,” said the union representing Alaska flight attendants. Cabin pressure plummeted. Hickman heard a mother cry, “My son’s shirt got ripped off!” Un and McCaul had been in Portland to visit Un’s college-age daughter for Christmas. Not long after the pilot announced that the plane had reached 10,000 feet, Un heard what sounded like an explosion.

McCaul said he dropped his phone and later saw it fly out the gaping hole. Then, the large, light brown teddy bear that his grandmother from Cambodia had given him flew out, too.

Gasps of shock filled the plane as oxygen masks were released from overhead, according to passengers on the flight. The air felt thinner, and some passengers struggled to breathe until they could connect their oxygen masks. Dust landed in Un’s hair. The interior lights flickered on.

Some passengers stood up to try to see what had happened. The flight crew ordered them to remain seated with their seat belts fastened.

A cellphone, a giant teddy bear and a passenger’s shirt were sucked out the hole in the cabin. Picture: X

“You have to remain seated. We have to be sure it’s safe for us to be moving right now,” said a crew member over the intercom. The crew told passengers to keep their oxygen masks on.

“There’s a f -- ing hole in the side of the plane!” yelled a passenger. The Alaska pilot told air-traffic control that the plane had lost pressurisation and needed to go back to Portland.

“We declared an emergency,” the pilot said, according to a recording of the exchange posted online by LiveATC. “We are depressurized. We do need to return back.” Un and McCaul held hands across the aisle. McCaul says he looked out the hole the entire time and felt gusts of freezing cold air. Because they had their oxygen masks on, they couldn’t speak to each other. Un said she prayed for a safe landing.

Most passengers couldn’t see what had happened. The news that “a window” had fallen off traveled through the plane like a game of telephone, as passengers spoke in voices that were muted by the oxygen masks, Hickman said.

“Is it OK if I hold your hand?” said the woman seated next to Hickman. He said yes. He clasped the woman’s hand and that of his mother, Teresa. “We were just all trying to comfort each other at that point.” Hickman was taking his mother back home to southern California. They had originally been booked in row 29 -- which would have put them only a few rows away from the rupture. The night before the flight, he upgraded their seats to spare his mother some difficulty walking on the plane. They were seated in row 8, immediately behind first class.

Hickman texted his partner Diego Murillo: “Diego, there is an emergency on the plane.” Passengers all around him were doing the same thing.

“I am so scared right now,” Emma Vu wrote to her parents from seat 18B in text messages that she posted in a TikTok video. “Please pray for me, ” she wrote. “Please i dont want to die.” Within minutes of the emergency, passengers could feel the plane turning around.

Hickman figured they were returning to Portland -- but the crew didn’t inform them of this.

Aside from a few outbursts, passengers were eerily quiet during the descent to the airport, Hickman said. Un said the flight attendants came to check on her and her son and asked for a hand signal -- a thumbs up or down -- because they couldn’t speak.

The news that “a window” had fallen off traveled through the plane like a game of telephone Picture: X

The plane landed at 5:27 p.m. and was back at its gate at 5:30 p.m. When it touched down, passengers erupted in applause. Deboarding wasn’t immediate and some passengers grew restless in the ensuing minutes.

Crew members ordered passengers to remain seated and stay calm. The crew needed to take a headcount and follow normal post-flight procedures before they could deplane.

Soon, emergency responders boarded and checked for passengers who needed medical attention. They evaluated passengers seated closest to the rupture first. Several passengers said their fingers felt numb, Hickman said. Un’s left ear throbbed.

Passengers exited the plane from the front and entered the terminal via the jet bridge. Emergency responders had oxygen tanks available. One man was seated in a wheelchair receiving treatment on his leg, said Hickman.

People were told to go to terminal gates C9 to C11, where they had to wait in line to be rebooked. Some passengers got rebooked onto flights departing the next day.

Alaska put another flight on its schedule Friday to leave Portland at 10:30 p.m. and land in Ontario at around 12:30 a.m. Saturday. Hickman and his mom took that flight even though they “were not in any rush to be back on a flight,” he said. “It was traumatic.” Alaska Airlines promised to provide each passenger with a refund of their tickets and $1,500 to assist with inconveniences, according to an email to passengers reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane sits at a gate at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on January 6, 2024 in Seattle, Washington, after the airline grounded its 737 MAX 9 fleet following the incident. Picture: Getty

“We recognize how extremely distressing this incident must have been and we are grateful to you and our crew for everyone’s calm and patience throughout this experience. We will fully investigate this incident and work with the relevant authorities to understand what happened,” said the email.

From his mother’s home in southern California, Hickman tossed and turned trying to fall asleep, and kept replaying the incident in his mind. Saturday was his mother Teresa’s 74th birthday. She and her son celebrated with cake and tried to forget the harrowing experience they’d had the night before.

Un and McCaul are now trying to figure out how to get back to California, where McCaul has his sixth grade classes on Monday. He is terrified to fly.

--Alison Sider and Dawn Gilbertson contributed to this article. Write to Patience Haggin at [e-mail], Micah Maidenberg at [e-mail] and Allison Pohle at [e-mail]

Wall Street Journal