Alaska Airlines Pilot Describes Moment Door Exploded in First Interview: ‘I Knew Something Catastrophic Was Wrong’

A pilot on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 opens for the first time on the terrifying moments when a door panel on the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft exploded in mid-flight in January.

“The first sign was an explosion in my ears, followed by a rush of air,” co-pilot Emily Wiprud told CBS News in an exclusive interview. “My body was pushed forward and there was also a loud noise. … The cockpit door was open. I saw tubes hanging from the cabin.”

Wiprud said at that point she didn’t know what was wrong. Her instincts took over and she and the captain began working to land safely.

“I didn’t know there was a hole in the plane until we landed,” Wiprud said. “I knew something catastrophic was happening.”

“It was incredibly loud,” she recalls. “I remember putting on the oxygen mask and trying to communicate with air traffic control and wondering, ‘Why can’t I hear anything?’”

It turned out that his helmet had been torn off. Several objects, including the two passenger phonesWiprud’s helmet and several components of the aircraft were sucked out of the plane.

The panel, also known as a door stopper, is designed to fit into door spaces that aren’t typically needed on an airplane, turning them into windows. The Alaska Airlines plane was only six minutes into its flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, when the panel blew off at 16,000 feet. The crew had to make an emergency landing.

Wiprud then focused on accounting for the 171 passengers and four flight attendants on board the plane.

“I opened the cockpit door and saw the calm, the tranquility, hundreds of eyes staring at me,” she said. She asked the flight attendants if they were OK, and the crew told her there were “empty seats and injured people” among the passengers.

Wiprud said when she heard there were empty seats, she thought they had lost passengers.

Fortunately, no passengers were sucked out of the plane, but a teenager on board the flight his shirt was ripped off his bodyAs Wiprud checked with the flight attendants, she saw the teenager’s mother on the ground, looking for him.

“She turned around and her son was gone. As a mother, I can’t even imagine that feeling,” said Wiprud, who has two young children. It turned out that the teenager, who was in the same row where the sign exploded, had quickly moved to another seat.

Eventually, the plane landed safely and reported injuries were minor.

Wiprud spoke to CBS News alongside Air Line Pilots Association President Capt. Jason Ambrosi, who said, “The most important safety feature on any airplane is two well-trained, qualified, rested pilots. … This crew instinctively put their training into place and executed it flawlessly.”

Preliminary results of an NTSB investigation found that four key bolts intended to hold the door stopper in place were were missing from the planeInvestigations have also been launched by the Federal Aviation AdministrationTHE Ministry of Justice and the FBI, which Passengers informed in a letter that they may have been “victims of a crime.” Boeing said he will cooperate fully with all the investigations.

Wiprud and the captain of Flight 1282 are receiving the 2023 Air Line Pilots Association Award for their competence and professionalism during the crisis. She said the airline’s quick action made all the difference.

“My captain is a hero. So are the flight attendants, and all the staff who were there to support us that day,” she said. “And that should be celebrated. Everybody survived.”