Latest news with #Flight1282
01-08-2025
- Business
Flight attendants in Alaska Airlines door plug incident sue Boeing
Four flight attendants who were onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, where the door plug blew out in January 2024, are now suing Boeing.
01-08-2025
- General
Flight attendants on Alaska Airlines door plug flight sue Boeing
The flight attendants on board Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, where the door plug blew out in January 2024, are now suing Boeing, claiming they "sustained injuries of a personal, permanent, and pecuniary nature," according to the complaints. Four attendants working the flight -- Adam Fisher, Michelle Hughes, Steven Maller, and Christine Vasconcellos -- claimed in four separate suits that, "As a direct and proximate result of the ejection of the door plug and the resulting decompression, Plaintiff sustained physical and mental injuries, severe emotional distress, and other damages of a personal and pecuniary nature." "This act of negligence caused both physical and mental damages, which profoundly impaired my personal and professional life. It also resulted in many challenges to return to my dream job that I had proudly made my career," Hughes said in a statement. Vasconcellos said in another statement, "This event is something that never should have happened. I'm committed to seeking justice, accountability and making the sky a safe place." Tracy Brammeier, who represents the flight attendants, said in a statement to ABC: "When the door plug blew off the aircraft on flight 1282, each of the four flight attendants acted courageously, following their training and putting their passengers' safety first while fearing for their lives. They deserve to be wholly compensated for this life-altering, traumatic experience caused by Boeing's negligence in the 737 MAX production process." The lawsuits were filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle, Washington. Boeing declined to comment on the suit. The company has repeatedly said that it's supported the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the incident "in the transparent and proactive fashion we have supported all regulatory inquiries into this accident." The mid-exit door plug separated from the Boeing 737 Max 9 passenger plane on Jan. 5, 2024, minutes after Flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport. Passengers captured footage showing a hole where the door plug came loose. The plane safely made an emergency landing and no one was seriously injured in the incident.
New York Post
17-07-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Passengers settle massive lawsuit with Alaska Airlines and Boeing after midflight door plug failure
Three passengers who sued Alaska Airlines for $1 billion after a door plug blew out midflight in 2024 recently settled with the airline and Boeing. The Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet was flying from Oregon's Portland International Airport to Ontario, California, on Jan. 5, 2024, when the incident prompted an emergency landing. Advertisement The lawsuit, which sought damages for emotional and physical injuries, including severe stress, anxiety, trauma and hearing injuries, was settled for an undisclosed amount and dismissed with prejudice on July 7, FOX 12 Oregon reported. Some of the 174 passengers allegedly reported a whistling sound and reported the issue to the six crew members, according to court documents. The suit alleged nothing else was done after the pilot checked the cockpit instruments, which supposedly read as normal. It eventually turned back after reaching 16,000 feet, landing safely in Portland. Advertisement 4 Alaska Airlines flight grounded at Portland International Airport on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024 after a section of the plane blew out mid-flight. via KPTV 4 Passenger oxygen masks hang from the roof next to a missing window and a portion of a side wall of an Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 in Portland, Oregon, U.S., January 5, 2024. Instagram/@strawberrvy via REUTERS The day after the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded the Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes for further inspections. Alaska Airlines also took more than 60 Max 9's out of service while it conducted safety inspections. Advertisement 'Boeing must commit to real and profound improvements,' FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said following the emergency. 'Making foundational change will require a sustained effort from Boeing's leadership, and we are going to hold them accountable every step of the way, with mutually understood milestones and expectations.' 4 A general view of an Alaska Airlines airplane as seen in Santa Ana, CA on February 12, 2019. Christopher Sadowski 4 Boeing's logo is pictured at the company's Renton factory in Renton, Washington, on April 15, 2025. AFP via Getty Images Boeing previously paid out $160 million in 'initial compensation' to Alaska Airlines after the NTSB found Boeing at fault for a panel flying off of a 737 Max 9 jetliner in 2024, FOX 12 reported. Advertisement Boeing did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment. Alaska Air declined FOX Business' request for comment.
The Hill
25-06-2025
- General
- The Hill
NTSB says missing bolts among ‘deficiencies' in Alaska Airlines door plug blowout
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The leader of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is blaming systemic failures for a door plug blowout in the skies over Portland in January 2024. Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 made an emergency landing 30 minutes after taking off from Portland International Airport when the door plug separated from the aircraft at 14,830 feet, leaving a hole in the side of the plane. Oxygen masks dropped during the rapid decompression and objects were sucked out of the hole as the passengers and crew contended with wind and roaring noise. All passengers survived, but several suffered minor injuries. A 17-month investigation by the NTSB has determined that the four bolts meant to hold the door plug in place were removed during a repair job, and never replaced. Investigators determined the door plug had also gradually moved during the 154 flights prior to this incident, before it ultimately flew off. 'The safety deficiencies that led to this accident should have been evident to Boeing and to the FAA,' NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said. 'This time it was missing bolts securing the door plug, but the same safety deficiencies that led to this accident could just have easily led to other manufacturing quality escapes and other accidents.' Boeing factory workers told NTSB investigators they felt pressured to work too fast and were asked to perform jobs they weren't qualified for. None of the 24 people on the door team were ever trained to remove a door plug before working on the plane in question, and only one of them had ever done so before. That person was on vacation when the repair was being done. The NTSB says Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration have improved training and processes since the blowout. Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems — the company that made and installed the door plug — are redesigning them with another backup system to keep the panels in place even if the bolts are missing, but that improvement isn't likely to be certified by the FAA until 2026 at the soonest. The NTSB urged the companies and the regulator to make sure every 737 Max is retrofitted with those new panels. In a statement, Boeing said that they 'regret this accident and continue to work on strengthening safety and quality across our operations.' 'We will review the final report and recommendations as we continue to implement improvements.' The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Business Insider
25-06-2025
- Business Insider
Boeing didn't train factory staff well enough in the lead up to the Alaska Airlines 737 Max blowout, NTSB says
Investigators criticized both Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration as they released a summary of the report into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. "The safety deficiencies that led to this accident should have been evident to Boeing and to the FAA," Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Tuesday. "A long chain of events" led to a door plug coming off the Alaska Airlines 737 Max last January, she added. The plane, which left Boeing's factory 66 days earlier, was forced to make an emergency landing. In its preliminary report, the NTSB said the plane was missing bolts designed to secure the door plug. In Tuesday's summary, the NTSB pointed to problems at Boeing and a lack of oversight from the FAA. It determined that the probable cause of the incident was Boeing's failure to "provide adequate training, guidance, and oversight" to its factory workers. The 737 Max 's door plug was opened by Boeing workers to repair an issue. However, the person who opened the door didn't make a record of this, the investigation found. That increased the risk of problems because it meant there weren't documented steps for the bolts to be reinstalled, the NTSB said. Plus, because there was no record of the work, there was no quality inspection. Additionally, neither the manager of the door team nor any of the team members on duty had "any experience with opening a [mid-exit door] plug," the investigators said. Just one of the 24 door-team members had opened one before, but the Boeing veteran mechanic was on vacation. According to transcripts, the employee who filled in for him was a trainee who had worked at Boeing for 17 months. He told investigators his only previous jobs were at KFC and Taco Bell. The NTSB criticized Boeing's on-the-job training and recommended that it develop a structured program with grades to track progress. It also said there had been "persistent deficiencies" with Boeing's instructions for removing parts. Last month, the Justice Department agreed to drop charges against Boeing after the planemaker agreed to invest more than $1 billion in strengthening its compliance, safety, and quality programs. Also in May, the FAA extended a program that lets Boeing perform inspections on itself and other tasks typically done by the agency. Homendy commended Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took over after the Alaska Airlines incident, saying they'd had "several great discussions focused on safety." She added, "He has a lot of work cut out for him, a lot of challenges to address, and that is going to take time." The NTSB said its final report will be published in the coming weeks.
