Summary A crew member working on AS1282 noted in an interview with the NTSB that they would never feel safe on a MAX aircraft. On the Alaska Airlines flight earlier this year, there were just seven spare seats onboard, two of which were next to the door plug. Boeing's new CEO acknowledges rebuilding trust will take time.
Just last week, the National Transportation Safety Board published the dialogue of interviews with the crew onboard Alaska Airlines AS1282 . 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 don't 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) and ascended out of the Oregon airport 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 sec.