This flight had departed from Portland, Oregon (PDX), en route to Ontario International Airport , California (ONT), and saw the emergency exit door blow out, causing an unexpected, uncontrolled aircraft decompression. Many crew members still traumatized by the event expressed that they still do not feel safe when flying on that aircraft variant.

A terrifying departure from Portland

On January 5, earlier this year, the flight departed from Portland International Airport (PDX) with 171 passengers and six crew onboard. When the door blew out, the plug (a structure installed to replace an optional emergency exit, blew out of the Boeing 737 MAX 9, causing immediate aircraft decompression. The pilot quickly returned to Portland, and a full emergency crew met the aircraft.

All passengers and crew survived the incident, with just three individuals resulting in minor injuries. The NTSB investigation is ongoing; however, a preliminary report on February 6 showed that four bolts intended to secure the door plug were missing. The aircraft was delivered from Boeing to Alaska Airlines just ten weeks before the incident.

Don't feel safe onboard

In an interview with the NTSB, a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines was on the flight in January and identified they wouldn't feel safe if they were passengers on a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The unnamed cabin crew member made a statement during an interview with the NTSB as part of the ongoing investigation into the flight. The interview of these crew members took place just three days after the incident; however, it has only been made public. As noted by Business Insider, here are further comments from the crew member:

"Just from my personal standpoint and just knowing that was a 10-week-old airplane, I do not feel safe getting on the Max right now. How can we know this will not happen again and this is safe because that should not have happened."

"All of a sudden, there was just a really loud bang and lots of whooshing air, like the door burst open, it scared the crap out of me."