A Portland couple who were on the Alaska Airlines 737-MAX 9 plane whose door blew out midflight are suing Boeing and Alaska Airlines for $1 billion after being traumatized by the incident – with even the sounds of planes flying overhead triggering flashbacks.
Kyle Rinker, 29, was with his girlfriend, Amanda Strickland, and fellow passenger Kevin Kwok, traveling to Ontario, California on Alaska Flight 1282 when five minutes into the flight, there was a sudden loud ‘pop’ as one of the aircraft’s door plugs blew out through the plane’s fuselage.
The trio were sitting in row 27 – just one row behind 26 where a massive hole was created in the side of the plane.
It led to a sudden rush of cold air as the plane ascended through 16,000ft and the oxygen masks deployed from ceiling panels.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants (Boeing and Alaska Airlines) ignored obvious warning signs – and that the flight should have never taken off.
Kyle Rinker and his girlfriend Amanda Strickland were onboard the Alaska Airlines flight flying to Ontario, California, when a door plug blew off, causing a hole in the plane
Passenger oxygen masks hang from ceiling panels next to a missing window and a portion of a side wall of an Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which had been bound for Ontario, California
A photo shows the blown out door panel after is landed safely back at Portland Airport
‘We took off fine and then just five minutes, and we heard the loud pop,’ Rinker told KGW.
‘We were just sitting there trying to relax … and then, that thing just happens. The oxygen masks come down, just like, ‘Oh, wow, something’s going on. We got to get these on.’
‘We were in 27E and F, and that was 26A, B and C, so we were pretty close. The wind just came rushing it. It was very, very cold all of the sudden.’
Thankfully, row 26 was empty, and nobody was injured in the terrifying incident.
Two months on, Rinker says he now finds himself triggered by sounds of planes flying above and wants to claim punitive damages for systemic risks.
‘There has been a crazy onslaught of information. Of course, we wanted to learn about … it was just a lot of stuff. Where we live, we hear a lot of plane sounds and jet sounds, so that kind of triggers hearing that sound again. And no, we have not been on a plane since. I’m not sure when that will happen again.’
‘I don’t think there has been a day that’s gone by that we haven’t thought about it,’ Rinker’s girlfriend, Strickland, added.
‘It was so intense, the whole thing. We couldn’t hear anything that was going on. All we felt was the air and heard the sound of the air rushing by.’
Rinker said the incident is affecting he and his girlfriend Amanda Strickland’s daily life with even the sounds of aircraft passing overheard triggering them both – causing flashbacks
Fortunately 26A, the seat next to where the blowout occurred was not occupied
NTSB investigators are seen in the cabin as they carried out their inspection after the 737 MAX 9 was grounded
The door flew off and landed in the backyard of a suburban home in Portland, Oregon
Investigators say bolts that helped secure the panel on the Boeing jetliner were missing before the panel blew off the plane in midflight in January
Lawyer Jonathan Johnson said although the aircraft manufacturer acknowledged their role in the blowout and vowed to fix such problems from happening in the future, the lawsuit will push both companies to prioritize safety
‘We’ve had so many people say, “Oh, sorry about what you went through,” and I’m thinking like, “Oh, it could’ve been a lot worse, even still with it being bad.” I think about that almost daily,’ Rinker said.
The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County, aims to hold both Alaska and Boeing companies accountable for compromising passenger safety.
While Boeing has already acknowledged their responsibility in the incident and pledged to address issues, attorney Jonathan Johnson, who is representing the passengers, emphasized the need for the lawsuit to compel both companies to prioritize safety rather than rely on luck.
‘This is mostly about the systemic problems at Boeing, which is jeopardizing the lives of the entire traveling public who travel on Boeing aircraft,’ said Johnson. ‘They should not be trusting luck to avoid a planeload of people being killed.
‘The issue with Alaska, on this particular aircraft, they had several warnings, air pressure monitor warnings. In fact, I think they had said this aircraft couldn’t fly over water.
‘I think some of their problems recently is that they outsource some of the manufacturing, and even if they have adequate safety protocols at Boeing. When they use third-party contractors, they aren’t necessarily making sure that the contractors follow the same safety protocols, so you could have a contractor send in a part that is not meeting those safety protocols.’
Rinker also says he believes the situation could have been much worse, underscoring the daily impact of the ordeal.
Plastic covers the exterior of the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX after landing safely
Investigators inspecting the Alaska Airlines plane that was destroyed when a door blew out at 16,000ft are looking at whether four bolts that were supposed to help hold the panel in place might have been missing when the plane took off
The Boeing 737-9 MAX rolled off the assembly line in November 2023, according to FAA records
Boeing and Alaska Airlines have not commented on the lawsuit.
Investigators inspected the plane to look at whether the four bolts that were supposed to help hold the panel in place might have been missing when the plane took off.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) carried out the inspection of the aircraft after the door landed in the backyard of a suburban home in Portland, Oregon.
At a press conference, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy stated that it was likely the fact passengers next to the blowout were kept in their seats because they wearing seatbelts.
Alaska and United Airlines have reported separately that they found loose parts in the panels – or door plugs – of some other Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets.
Alaska said that as it began examining its MAX 9s ‘initial reports from our technicians indicate some loose hardware was visible on some aircraft.’
In January, Boeing was sued by shareholders who said the company prioritized profit over safety and misled them about its commitment to making safe aircraft, prior to the January 5 incident.
According to a proposed class action, Boeing spent more than four years after the October 2018 and March 2019 crashes of two other MAX planes, which killed 346 people, assuring investors that it was ‘laser-focused’ on safety and would not sacrifice safety for profit.
Shareholders said Boeing’s statements were false and misleading because they concealed the ‘poor quality control’ on its assembly line, and caused its stock price to be inflated.