NTSB/AP
Passengers and crew members on the Alaska Airlines flight that lost a door plug midair in January have described the "chaos" in the moments after the blowout in newly released documents.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released the documents ahead of a hearing into the incident in which a Boeing 737 Max lost its door panel shortly after takeoff.
In an interview with investigators, the captain of the flight, whose name was redacted along with other crew members, described a "loud bang, ears popping, my head got pushed up into the HUD [head-up display] and my headset got pushed off… almost off my head."
The captain said they saw one of the plane's flight attendants "thrown to the floor" by the force of the "explosive experience."
The flight's first officer, who was also interviewed by regulators, described the moments after the blowout as "chaos" as cabin crew scrambled to deal with an emergency at 16,000 feet.
"I didn't hear much, it was very loud," they said. "At that point my focus was forward, and I yelled get down, get down."
One of the plane's flight attendants said they heard "a really loud bang and lots of whooshing air."
Another described the moment they realized there was a hole in the plane, telling investigators that they thought that some passengers had been sucked out of the passenger jet.
"At the point where I first saw the hole, I saw five empty seats. In that moment… I was absolutely certain that we had lost people out of the hole and that we had casualties," they said.
All passengers and crew survived the incident.
In a statement shared with Business Insider, an Alaska Airlines spokesperson said the airline is "committed to cooperating with the NTSB.
"Because this is an ongoing investigation, we are limited in the details we can release or confirm," the company said.
Boeing did not respond to BI's request for comment.
NTSB investigators also interviewed several passengers sitting in the section of the plane near the door plug.
The passengers, whose names were also redacted, described hearing a "loud bang or pop noise" and being "shoved back by a gust of wind."
Two travelers interviewed by investigators said they saw a passenger in seat 26C, the aisle seat on the row with the door plug, filming out of the hole with a "GoPro camera on his wrist."
They later learned that the passenger had lost all of his other belongings in the incident, including his car keys, laptop, and phone.
Another passenger described clinging on to a teenager whose shirt was sucked off his body by the force of the decompression.
The Alaska Airlines blowout sparked new questions about the safety of Boeing's 737 Max aircraft.
In a preliminary investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board said that several bolts were missing from the door plug. The aviation giant now faces a Justice Department investigation and lawsuits over the incident, adding to its legal woes.
Boeing CEO David Calhoun stepped down two months after the Alaska Airlines incident, with aviation veteran Kelly Ortberg hired to replace him.
