Alaska Airlines flight forced to make emergency landing after window blows out in mid-air

An Alaska Airlines flight traveling from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, had to make an emergency landing Friday night after a portion of the aircraft blew out mid-air. 

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 left Portland International Airport at 4:52 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, according to the public flight tracking website FlightAware. The aircraft returned to Portland and landed safely a little before 5:30 p.m.

Social media video obtained by CBS News appeared to show that one of the passenger window panels had been blown out.

CBS News learned that the plane, a Boeing 737-MAX 9, had been recently delivered to the airline in October. 

This type of aircraft comes equipped with a rear emergency exit door, used mainly by international airlines, and has a seat configuration that allows for more passengers on the plane. Most U.S. airliners don’t use that configuration and design the area to appear as a window from the inside of the aircraft.

The aircraft reached approximately 16,000 feet about six minutes into the flight before beginning its descent, according to FlightAware.

The jet had 174 passengers and six crew members aboard. In a statement provided to CBS News, Alaska Airlines said that Flight No. 1282 “experienced an incident this evening soon after departure” and “landed safely back” in Portland but did not elaborate.

Immediately after the incident, the pilot radioed to the air traffic controller, declaring that the flight had depressurized.

“We’re declaring an emergency,” the pilot said. “We do need to come down to 10,000.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the crew reported a “pressurization issue.” Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board said they were launching investigations.   

In a statement sent to CBS News, Boeing was “working to gather more information” and was in contact with Alaska Airlines.

Boeing said it has a technical team standing by to support the investigation.

Matthew Rodriguez

Matthew Rodriguez is a digital producer at kcalnews.com. He’s previously reported for local outlets like the Argonaut and Pasadena Weekly. Matt typically covers breaking news and crime.