Seven passengers of the harrowing Alaska Airlines flight that had to make an emergency landing after a door-sized panel blew off the plane are suing the airline and the aircraft’s manufacturer Boeing.
One of the plaintiffs is Cuong Tran, a passenger who was seated in a window seat right behind the door plug that blew out mid-air, causing rapid depressurization in the cabin of the Boeing 737 Max 9 jet. He was saved by his seatbelt as air rushed out of the hole, tearing off a pair of socks and one shoe and sucking away his iPhone.
He and six other plaintiffs, who suffered physical injuries and feared for their lives during their incident, according to their attorneys, are suing Alaska, the airline, Boeing, the plane’s manufacturer, and its supplier Spirit Aerosystems.
The suit was filed on Thursday in Washington’s King county superior court. It is one of several lawsuits filed by passengers on the flight, including another filed in King county representing 22 passengers, one brought by three Oregon passengers seeking $1bn in damages, and another filed in federal court representing 33 passengers.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said four key bolts were missing from the door plug that blew out on the plane, and the NTSB is seeking more information on who worked on the plug. The head of Boeing’s 737 Max program was ousted in the wake of the blowout.
The incident on 5 January prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to ground some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes as it investigates, and the US justice department has begun a criminal investigation into the company.
The incident has put further pressure on Boeing, which was already under scrutiny after two of its 737 Max 8 jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
Though the Alaska flight in January was able to land safely and there were no major injuries, lawyers in the latest lawsuit say several passengers were hurt and traumatised.
“One of the children of our clients lost his clothing – his shirt was sucked off,” said Ari Friedman, a lawyer representing the passengers.
“We can look at it through the lens of the product defects, or we can also look at it through the lens of what happens when companies think that they can start cutting corners, save their share price a few points, at the expense of the travelling public and the communities that these planes fly,” Friedman said.
A separate class-action suit filed on behalf of passengers alleges that oxygen masks malfunctioned. Some were hit with debris, and suffered whiplash as the plane depressurized.
