Explosion, air blast, emergency landing: the co-pilot of the Alaska Airlines Boeing that lost a door mid-flight in January said she feared the worst when she discovered the gaping hole and empty seats once back on the tarmac, in an interview broadcast Wednesday.
“A blast in my ears, then a rush of air,” Wiprud recalled in an interview with CBS News.
On January 5, the woman was co-piloting the Boeing 737 MAX 9, which had taken off shortly before from Portland, Oregon, for California, when her “body was pushed forward and there was also a loud bang,” she said.
“It was incredibly loud,” the woman recalled.
The captain and co-pilot then focused on an emergency landing.
But at that point, Emily Wiprud was still unaware that the plane had just lost a door stopper, a cover blocking a redundant emergency exit.
“I didn’t know until we landed that there was a hole in the plane,” she said. “I opened the cockpit door and saw hundreds of calm, silent eyes looking at me.”
AFP
It was only once the plane had returned to dry land, when he wanted to check that everyone was okay, that the flight crew then told him that there were “empty seats and injured people” among the passengers, making him fear the worst.
Among them, a teenager who was sitting next to the door had moved to another seat to avoid being sucked in, and Emily Wiprud then came across his mother, who was looking for him: “her son was no longer there. As a mother myself, I can’t even imagine that feeling.”
“It didn’t take us long to confirm that we had 177 souls on board,” she said, “so grateful” and “in shock.”
Along with the pilot, she will receive an award from the Air Line Pilots Association on Thursday for her professionalism.
“My captain is a hero. Same for the flight attendants,” said Emily Wiprud.
This incident, on a brand new aircraft, revealed quality problems at the aircraft manufacturer.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report in early February that was damning of Boeing: four bolts intended to prevent the door from moving were missing.
