Boeing is facing multiple lawsuits amid a rash of safety issues on multiple flights.
The latest suit was filed by three passengers on Flight 1282; they are seeking $1 billion in damages after a door on their MAX-9 plane blew out during a January 5, 2024 flight from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California.
Others are expected to join plaintiffs Kyle Rinker, Amanda Stickland, and Kevin Kwok in the suit.
The plane in question, a Boeing 737-9 MAX, was flying with 171 passengers at an altitude of 16,000 feet when a portion of the fuselage gave way, leaving a gaping hole.
3 passengers on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 where door plug blew out sue the airline and Boeing for $1 billion https://t.co/eJqP5NoGiO
— ┋𝔇𝔞𝔫𝔞’𝔰 𝔐𝔲𝔰𝔢┋ (@DanasMuse1) March 4, 2024
Frightened and shocked passengers screamed and reached for oxygen masks that were released as the plane quickly dropped in altitude.
Resist the Mainstream reported that passenger Emma Vu recalled the harrowing experience: “I woke up to the plane just falling and I knew it was not just normal turbulence because the masks came down, and that’s when the panic definitely started to set it.”
Vu added: “I fell asleep and then we’re probably 20 minutes into the air and I feel the entire plane drop and the masks drop and people are screaming in a moment of vulnerability.”
Incredibly, no passengers were seriously injured in the incident.
According to One America News, Jonathan Johnson, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, told the press: “This is mostly about the systemic problems at Boeing, which is jeopardizing the lives of the entire traveling public who travel on Boeing aircraft.”
Johnson added: “They should not be trusting luck to avoid a planeload of people being killed.”
According to Rinker, when the door gave way, “the wind just came rushing through it. It was very, very cold all of the sudden, obviously, because you’re flying up there at 16,000 feet.”
Rinker claims that since the incident, he experiences profound anxiety when hearing airplanes overhead. “[I] have not been on a plane since. I’m not sure when that will happen again,” Rinker said.
In a separate but related suit, attorney Mark Lindquist, who is representing other passengers on Flight 1281, reported that his lawsuit against Boeing and Alaska is expanded due to claims by passengers on prior flights that they heard and reported disturbing whistling and mechanical sounds.
His suit claims: “There was a whistling sound coming from the vicinity of the door plug on a previous flight of the subject plane. Passengers apparently noticed the whistling sound and brought it to the attention of flight attendants who reportedly informed the pilot or first officer.”
The incident is under investigation. The initial report from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board found that bolts designed to hold the door in place were missing when the plane departed.
A faulty inspection is thought to account for the error.
The FAA grounded the Max 9 fleet after the January 5 incident. Planes were inspected and several safety concerns were identified and addressed. Authorities report the Max 9 planes have been green-lighted to return to service.
