A Portland couple who were on the Alaska Airlines 737-MAX 9 plane whose door blew out mid-flight are suing Boeing and Alaska Airlines for $1 billion after being traumatized by the incident – which even included the sounds of planes flying overhead. cause flashbacks.
Kyle Rinker, 29, was traveling to Ontario, California on Alaska Flight 1282 with his girlfriend Amanda Strickland and fellow passenger Kevin Kwok when five minutes As they entered the flight, there was suddenly a loud ‘bang’ as one of the plane’s door plugs blew out through the fuselage of the plane.
The trio sat in row 27 – just one row behind 26, where a huge hole had been cut in the side of the plane.
It led to a sudden rush of cold air as the plane reached an altitude of 16,000 feet and the oxygen masks from the ceiling panels were deployed.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants (Boeing and Alaska Airlines) ignored obvious warning signs – and that the flight should never have departed.
Kyle Rinker and his girlfriend Amanda Strickland were aboard the Alaska Airlines flight to Ontario, California, when a door plug blew off and left a hole in the plane
Passenger oxygen masks hang from ceiling panels next to a missing window and part of a side wall of an Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which was headed to Ontario, California
A photo shows the door panel blown off after it landed safely at Portland Airport
“We took off fine and then just five minutes in, we heard the loud bang,” Rinker said KKG.
“We were just sitting there trying to relax… and then it just happened. The oxygen masks come down, just like, ‘Oh, wow, something’s going on. We have to wear these.”
“We were in 27E and F, which was 26A, B and C, so we were pretty close. The wind just came over it. It was suddenly very cold.’
Luckily, row 26 was empty and no one was injured in the terrifying incident.
Two months later, Rinker says he is now triggered by sounds of planes flying overhead and wants to sue for damages for systemic risks.
“There has been a crazy outpouring of information. Of course we wanted to learn more about… it was just a lot of things. Where we live, we hear a lot of airplane noise and jet noise, so that makes us hear that noise again. And no, we haven’t been on a plane since. I’m not sure when that will happen again.’
“I don’t think a day has gone by that we haven’t thought about it,” Rinker’s girlfriend Strickland added.
‘It was so intense, the whole thing. We couldn’t hear anything that was going on. All we felt was the air and we heard the sound of the air rushing by.”
Rinker said the incident affects his and his girlfriend Amanda Strickland’s daily lives, with even the sounds of passing planes triggering them both, causing flashbacks.
Fortunately, at 26A, the seat next to where the blowout occurred was not occupied
NTSB investigators are seen in the cabin conducting their inspection after the 737 MAX 9 was grounded
The door flew off and landed in the backyard of a suburban home in Portland, Oregon
Investigators say bolts that helped secure the Boeing plane’s panel were missing before the panel blew off the plane mid-flight in January
Attorney Jonathan Johnson said that while the aircraft manufacturer acknowledged their role in the explosion and pledged to prevent such problems in the future, the lawsuit will push both companies to prioritize safety.
“We’ve had so many people say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry for what you went through,’ and I think, ‘Oh, it could have been a lot worse, even though it was still bad.’ I think about that almost every day,” Rinker said.
The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County, seeks to hold both Alaska and Boeing companies accountable for endangering passenger safety.
Although Boeing has already acknowledged their responsibility in the incident and pledged to address the issues, attorney Jonathan Johnson, who is representing the passengers, emphasized the need for the lawsuit to force both companies to prioritize safety rather than rely on luck.
“This is primarily about the systemic problems at Boeing, which endanger the lives of the entire traveling public who travel on Boeing aircraft,” Johnson said. ‘They shouldn’t rely on luck to prevent a plane full of people from dying.
“With the Alaska issue, on this particular aircraft they had several warnings, barometric pressure monitor warnings. I even think they said this plane couldn’t fly over water.
“I think part of their problems lately is that they’re outsourcing some of the production, and even at Boeing they have adequate safety protocols in place. When they use outside contractors, they don’t necessarily ensure that the contractors follow the same safety protocols. So you could have a contractor send in a part that does not meet those safety protocols.’
Rinker also says he believes the situation could have been much worse, underscoring the daily impact of the ordeal.
Plastic covers the exterior of the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX after it lands safely
Investigators inspecting the Alaska Airlines plane that was destroyed when a door blew out at 16,000 feet are investigating whether four bolts that were supposed to help hold the panel in place may have been missing when the plane took off
According to FAA data, the Boeing 737-9 MAX rolled off the assembly line in November 2023
Boeing and Alaska Airlines have not commented on the lawsuit.
Investigators inspected the plane to see if the four bolts that held the panel in place might have been missing when the plane took off.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted the inspection of the plane after the door landed in the backyard of a suburban home in Portland, Oregon.
At a news conference, NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy said it was likely that passengers were kept in their seats next to the blowout because they were wearing seat belts.
Alaska and United Airlines separately reported finding loose parts in the panels – or door plugs – of some other Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets.
Alaska said that when it began examining its MAX 9s, “initial reports from our engineers indicated that loose hardware was visible on some aircraft.”
In January, Boeing was sued by shareholders who said the company put profits over safety and misled them about its commitment to making safe planes before the Jan. 5 incident.
According to a proposed class action, Boeing spent more than four years following the crashes of two other MAX planes in October 2018 and March 2019, which killed 346 people, assuring investors it was “laser focused” on safety and security wouldn’t sacrifice for profit.
Shareholders said Boeing’s statements were false and misleading because they concealed “poor quality control” on the assembly line and caused the stock price to be inflated.