“I didn’t think we were going to make it”: Passenger aboard Alaska flight with blown out door plug

Huy Tran was sitting in the row behind where a door plug blew off midair on January Alaska Airlines flight 1282.

Tran said he was just feet away from the gaping hole. That plane was forced to make an emergency landing at PDX.

Tran told KIRO 7 that he had just closed his eyes when he heard a whooshing sound.

“I didn’t think we were going to make it,” he said.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a giant hole in the plane.

“I could see the city lights under me, see the cars moving, the wind is rushing in,” Tran said.

Tran and his best friend were sitting in the row directly behind where the door plug blew off. His friend suffered an injury to his foot.

“He told us literally that his body lifted up out of his seat and then on top of that the kid that was in the row or two rows in front of us,” Tran said. “By the time I opened my eyes and saw him, his shirt was completely gone, I’ve never seen that.”

Tran said he and the other passengers were terrified, but luckily the plane landed at PDX safely.

“The plane could have broken apart at any moment we just had no idea, the sense of relief was immense because the fear was immense before that,” he said.

Several lawsuits against Boeing, Alaska Airlines and Spirit Aerosystems have already been filed and now Tran and his loved ones who were on that flight are also filing a lawsuit.

“One of the main goals, other than compensating the client for what they’ve gone through is to make sure that these things don’t happen again,” Timothy Loranger, Tran’s attorney, said.

Tran said he’s afraid to fly now and won’t board a 737.

“I feel lied to because when you get on the plane they say, they give you the speech and say safety is our number one priority, well obviously in this case that wasn’t the case, it was not safe,” he said.

KIRO 7 reached out to Alaska Airlines about this latest lawsuit and was told they cannot comment on pending litigation.

KIRO 7 is waiting for responses from Boeing and Spirit Aerosystems.

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