Pilot of Alaska Airlines Unaware of Blown Door Plug Until Landing
CBS
Eight months after a door plug blew out on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, co-pilot Emily Wiprud is speaking out about just how harrowing the ordeal was for everyone on board.
The pilot, who was the First Officer for the now infamous flight, sat down with CBS News, where she confessed she didn’t realize the extent of the damage when it first occurred. As Wiprud recalled, she first heard an explosion and a loud “whoosh of air” before her body was forced forward.
JANUARY 2024
Per Wiprud, she looked back through the flight deck door, which was open at the time, and “saw tubes hanging from the cabin.”
The pilots went into emergency mode and began preparing a strategy for a safe landing … unaware there was a massive gap in the wall of the plane.
She added … “I didn’t know that there was a hole in the airplane until we landed. I knew something was catastrophically wrong.”
Amid the chaos in the cockpit, Wiprud struggled to connect with air traffic control, because her headset had been yanked off.
However, according to Wiprud, things were surprisingly calm in the cabin of the plane … which shocked the pilot given the nature of the situation.
During the crisis, flight attendants told her there were “empty seats and injuries” following the damage … leaving Wiprud terrified they might have lost some of the 171 passengers.
Thankfully, no one died in the incident … though one passenger, a teen boy, did have his shirt ripped right off his body.
The young man was sitting in the row of the panel blow-out … but quickly moved to another seat, which caused a brief panic that he was MIA.
Results from the initial investigation found 4 key bolts were missing from the door plug, which were essential for holding it in place.
The FBI, Department of Justice and the Federal Aviation Administration are all looking into the incident … Boeing, the company that built the plane, is complying with the investigations.