On January 5th, passengers experienced an emergency landing due to a door plug detaching off an Alaska Airlines flight around 5 pm that day. Taking off at Portland’s International Airport, this plane held around 174 passengers and put everyone’s life in danger and affected around 171 flights worldwide. Investigators seek an explanation on how and why this door plug might have fallen off, whether it was a loose bolt, or not attached correctly. Later, a teacher located and found the 63 pound door plug in the backyard of his home in Portland Oregon.

  As passengers feared for their lives at what they thought were their last calls and text messages, the Airlines has offered full refunds to all passengers of Flight 1282, as well as a $1,500 cash payment. As Boeing investigated they found no serious injuries reported but due to the depressurization passengers were forced to wear the air masks provided by the airplane. Being a very frightful and emotional experience for both the airlines and the people on the plane, Boeing asures the people that they will find exactly what happened and went wrong and further improve their protocols. According to an advisor, “Boeing’s manufacturing practices need to comply with the high safety standards they’re legally accountable to meet.” This incident served as a reminder and wake up call of how important it is to make sure the plane is ready for takeoff.

After the horrifying incident, many passengers are debating on suing due to lost items and feeling endangered for their own lives. According to an interview, “I reached over and held his hand. We literally thought that we were going to die,” Un said in the “GMA” interview. Another passenger stated, “You just hear a big boom,” said McCaul. “It was silent for like one second, and then you would just feel and hear a lot of air blowing around, freezing cold air.” These experiences go to show that one mistake could lead to the cost of many lives and you should always be ready for emergencies like this.

While incidents like this are extremely rare to encounter, it is very crucial that we improve safety improvements in the flight industry. As investigations unfold, it is surely important for airlines to be transparent to the public and ensure safety standards are met, as this is top priority. This incident serves as a reminder that almost anything can happen in this day and age and no one should expect things to go perfect. As it goes to show safety could result in a life or death situation and should be a top priority when dealing with airplanes and passengers.