Alaska Airlines has grounded all their Boeing B737-9 MAX. The panel that separated is part of a section that covers the original emergency exit configured for high density seat configuration, not used on Alaska airplanes.
All true, but actually, assuming people are belted (big assumption), it's not really a huge issue for the bolts as such. Even at full altitude the pressure differential isn't actually that large, certainly not enough on its own to cause a bolt failure. It's not a black hole or vacuum cleaner like you see in the movies. Bigger issue is air is too thin to breathe for prolonged time and also very cold, but it doesn't instantly suck everything out. Source: I design airliner structures. Edit: by the way, for all the people who suddenly discovered their specialty in aircraft design in time to dump all over my comment, there's a story in the Wall Street Journal today (1/7) making this EXACT same point.
Well to be honest I can imagine he got pretty frustrated by receiving the same "depressurisation" answer multiple times which won't give him any clues as to what to tell the emergency vehicles waiting
@@nikolass4925All the pilot might know is that the cabin pressure alarm came on and they wouldn't know any more than that. In this case I'm sure the cabin crew called it in real quick, but ATC pressing for info the crew might not even have is not that great.
@@2xKTfc Yeah completely understand that, though I also understand the ATC trying to be helpful since that information is definitely useful to have. "Depressurisation" to me seems about as useful an information as "something is wrong with the plane, we need to land". But yeah, I appreciate the pilot might not have had more information either at this stage
@@nikolass4925 Depressurization is a "key word" in airline lingo meaning the cabin has lost pressure (unknown cause), oxygen masks are automatically deployed while pilots don their own special oxygen masks, the plane must descend ASAP to 10,000 or less....handbook steps for any sudden depressurization event. Crew members and ATC personnel are trained to listen to these key words.
This is upside-down-world. ATC asking are you really declaring an emergency, and pilot giving out fuel and soul numbers without being asked and ATC didn't seem to be interested in them. 😂
No, ATC would be interested in those things. The pilot knew that they would be interested in those things, so felt the need to tell them in advance to keep the conversation short. They practice these things all the time.
Yeah ATC seemed confused. The pilot was asked for the nature of the emergency three or four times despite saying "depressurization" on ever single call.
There's a reason the ATC is missing Emergency calls it's because pilots in the U.S are trained incorrectly. They don't follow international protocols on the radio. They all say "Declaring an emergency" which is wrong. It should be either Pan Pan Pan or Mayday Mayday Mayday, that does two things. It sends a clear message without any doubts to the ATC and nearby aircraft. It also defines the seriousness of the Emergency depending on which is used. I've been saying it for years. One day this will surface as part of the NTSB investigation, it will be one of the holes in the Swiss cheese that contributed to a chain of events that led to an unnecessary human tragedy . I hope it never happens, but sadly, one day it will. There are international standards for a reason.
@@Bohemian-Rhapsody I have been saying this since I have been watching the videos. This is international standard and American pilots don't follow it. It only works out in the end because Americans are native English speakers. If this was Asia you could have some serious miscommunications.
Very interesting that you hear the pilot become calmer over time as they get their heads around the problem and run through their procedures. That first radio message was total surprise, no protocols followed at all, and by the end of the emergency the pilot literally has a jaunty little chuckle at the ground controller checking that the descent wasn't going to be too steep during approach.
Startle and surprise is a human factor that we discuss during training at the airlines. It’s very real. Plus wearing those full face oxygen masks is very disorienting at first and takes a few minutes to adjust to.
They would have had a ton of work to do, memory items for getting the mask on, some different feeling in the controls due to the drag from the door, probably more noise in the cabin. Checklists to start working through. Meanwhile the adrenaline is kicking in. They flew the plane and communicated what they needed, that's plenty good enough.
For sure, but they also really should have called out MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY along with flight number and a declaration of descending to 10,000 right off the bat.
@@seanmolincreative That's not how things work, you don't have to call a MAYDAY or PAN PAN when declaring an emergency, they are seperate things. It depends on what criteria Alaska Airlines has in their SOP
Can't controllers communicate with each other before these emergency aircraft are handed off? I know everyone is busy but just seems ridiculous that the pilots in an emergency situation have to repeat the same things over and over when it has already been received by ATC.
@@thud9797 of course they can - look at the famous Hudson landing. You had hotlines set up for fast, easy handoffs. This urgently needs addressing here…
@@seanmolincreative pretty sure whilst you’re trying to emergency descend, doing quick memory items and checklists, whilst also donning EROS and potentially talking on the phone to crew - with all the warning alarms sounding in the cockpit… you may not think to say Mayday. EROS (their oxygen mask) also makes speaking more difficult - and you’re trying to co-ordinate and communicate with your copilot. Everyone in aviation knows emergency descent to 10K is a universal depressurisation procedure and they need to land ASAP. 100% easy to gather it’s an emergency. Just seems they were caught off-guard and their mind didn’t really want to accept they’d a potentially serious emergency to deal with.
If I would hear an emergency announcement as “we’d like to go DOWN!”, I would still be wondering as well. They would of followed their training if the pilot followed procedures
I've watched VAS for a while as an interested bystander, but this one hits home since it's my home airport, my preferred airline, planes that I recently went on, and a flight that I may take in the future. Super scary.
Hey neighbor. Same! The last few times I've flown out of PDX I've seen some concerning things including someone on the ground, working on an AC problem, nodding off while doing his work. The passenger behind me mentioned it to the flight attendant and she just shrugged.
Friends had flown out of PDX to Ontario a week or so before on the same airline. Yeah, they had to consider that. At least Alaska and Boeing is addressing the issue,
Flew out of PDX back to Dallas on Alaska and a 737 Max not to long ago. I really thought Boeing had changed the reputation of the Max for the better, but the quality control of these aircraft is alarming.
@@LouT1501is Boeing really addressing the issue of the FAA has to step in and ground all Max 9’s worldwide? Idk about you, but it feels the longer this aircraft flies the more issues it has. Maybe I’m wrong statically, but it’s not a good look.
Well done to the crew, the pilots were two steps ahead of ATC the entire time and didn’t wait for a clearance to intercept the LOC. They knew what they needed to do and did it and let ATC catch up. Bravo
Except I couldn’t understand the pilot. I have not seen the names of the pilots but think communication equipment in the airline industry needs massive improvement. The Japan collision is a classic example.
@@marcpost4034 not initially. She was fired up but got it together and kept it together. Excellent job by the amazing Alaska Airlines crew. No one died. If had been Spirit Airlines at least 10 would have been sucked out.
Although she sounded stressed*, she was fast, clear and gave all the info needed before even asked for. Great job indeed. (*I assume when they first declared that they were descending, they had no idea what happened and they got depressurized).
I thought the ATC sounded more stressed then the pilot. Why can't the ATC relay the information they have to the handoff controllers? The pilots have enough to deal with.
@@Wriwnas1to be fair as far as she knew initially the plane may very well be disintegrating around her and people might already be dead. Other fuselage ruptures have come down to whether the plane can land before the airframe critically deforms and the plane becomes impossible to fly. This one wasn’t as severe but she had no way to know that with the information on hand.
Can’t imagine how terrifying that woulda been to be a passenger. Especially if you were sitting near the blowout. Seat belts and the bolts on those seats saved many lives.
The news report said the teen whose shirt got ripped off took it in stride... The flight attendants moved him and his mother to safer seats out of caution...
@@Ysalomet They found two iPhones from passengers on that flight - I wonder if they found the boy's t-shirt. Could you imagine what a museum piece that would be? He could have it framed as a trophy or sell it for thousands!
ATC to the pilots: "Would you like to run a box before taking the approach" Pilots: "Nah - I'd like to get this thing on the ground as soon as possible before any other parts start falling off, please and thank you."
One report said a mother and child were seated nearby and it pulled the shirt off the child. So glad there were no catastrophic injuries. There was that other horrific incident a few years ago. I'm always impressed by the calm professionalism of the flight crew and ATC. I might be crying for my mother.
I know I saw a report stating that the seat adjacent to the blowout was empty, but it ripped the entire seat back out of the plane, and left the base of the seat.
I saw a tweet from a passenger on the plane, who was sitting just opposite the blown off door. He said that two passengers had actually booked the seats right by that door but they missed the flight. Bet they feel incredibly lucky
If the newest update I'm hearing is accurate (NTSB via NBC) - the cockpit door was ripped open, their headsets were ripped off, and checklist lost. Even if you're superhuman and not panicking from that, that has to make for a difficult situation. And certainly explains the state of crew transmissions. All the more impressive what the crew accomplished!
I've been plane spotting at PDX for years and this is the most intense aviation incident I've seen since I have started spotting. I was at PDX spotting on the Friday that this happened, and left just thirty minutes before this flight landed safely. It's a miracle there were no fatalities here. Massive props to the pilot for being two steps ahead of ATC and maintaining composure, getting the plane down as quickly as possible. I fly from PDX to ONT frequently on Alaska and was planning to fly this route on Sunday. It gives me chills knowing this could have been my plane. Even more shocking that this was a brand new 737-9 MAX, whose first flight was in October. Very unfortunate for Boeing who will have to deal with yet another major grounding issue with these planes. Can't imagine how terrifying this would have been but very glad that everyone is okay.
I've done some plane spotting as well since the beginning of the pandemic, from one of the perches on Marine Drive. I actually arrived at one of them about 45 mins after 1281 landed, having no idea that any of this had happened. Everyone on the radios seemed cool like a normal day. Of course, I couldn't see anything on the south side of the terminal where 1281 would've been parked. Glad to hear everyone is relatively safe!
Flightaware indicates the PDX-ONT route is usually flown with a 737-800, not the MAX-9. I also find it interesting that this aircraft arrived from NY-Kennedy 2 hours before this flight, following a redeye San Diego-Kennedy flight. So it did a lot of flying before this incident.
If some media reports that the aircraft is about 2-3 months old is accurate, Boeing will have to take a hard look at quality control and whether that air frame left the factory with pre-existing flaws.
Honestly it seems like there will be another court case where it comes out that boeing engineers told mcdonnell management for years that installing a door plug from the outside is fucking stupid.
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, in that order, which is exactly what this pilot and her colleague appear to have done, as demonstrated by the fact she was two steps in front of the controller(s) in information being provided & where she wanted to go & when (one controller even trips over himself at one point, telling them to intercept the localiser before realising they'd already got there and done it) throughout this emergency. It's since been confirmed by the NTSB that the cockpit door had been ripped open and jammed during the decompression & a headset had been pulled off one pilot as well. No wonder the pilot sounded a bit "excitable" in the first couple of transmissions. What's fustrating is the pilot had to continually "communicate, communicate, communicate" her situation (the last of the three steps in importance) because ATC were lagging behind her. She did well to keep her composure with them. I do wonder if the US implementing "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!" as a standard (like almost all the rest of the world) might have helped in this situation.
In the US, both are acceptable, "declaring an emergency" and "mayday mayday mayday". They have the same exact, official meaning, and controllers must treat both as declared emergencies. Non-US pilots will generally use mayday, which is the international standard, and controllers know what it means. I think in the US there is a connotation of panic associated with mayday, as if we're saying "We're all gonna die!" I've heard transmissions from Europe where "mayday" is used with any type of emergency - engine out, suspicious odor in the cockpit, medical emergency, whenever they need emergency handling. I've also heard them use mayday as part of their callsign, and say mayday each time they contact a new controller. Here in the US I think people perceive it as "We're going down!" The one time I declared an emergency (lost all pitot *and* static instruments due to a fat wasp wanting to share the same airspace as my pitot tube on departure), I said "I'm declaring an emergency" instead of mayday because I had a passenger sitting next to me in my rented Cessna, and I knew if he heard "mayday" he would find it alarming. As it was, I explained to him what was happening, there was a procedure to fly safely back to the airport, and that declaring an emergency allows me to fly in non-standard ways and gets others clear of us so we can get back on the ground sooner. He still freaked out, but he didn't tell me so until we were on the ground.
Even in the midst of all that chaos, the pilot was still pretty darn polite. Glad that no one was killed in the accident. Hope the kiddo that was injured will be okay.
The pilot training is paid off. You can tell by the voice she was terrified at first but after that she regained control and manage to land the plane safely. If one is in state of panic they wouldn’t able to think clearly at all.
@@dimasnaufalpratama4812 I know in some instances that the pilots, even in the face of death, held things together. The CVS from the Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 is horrifying, but the pilot in command spent the entire descent working the issue, and trying to calm his co-pilot.
Have a feeling that the kid sitting close to where the blowout occurred, won't be wanting a window seat ever again. Thank goodness everything turned out well.
based on the number of daily flights, the chances of a blowout are so incredible rare that it would equal something like having 5 car crashes on the way to the airport
@@ghostrider-be9ek another question you can ask the kid. Why do people refuse to eat a certain food after getting violently sick consuming it? Millions of other people will keep eating it with no bad reaction at all so it would only make sense that someone with your exceptional "people skills" would be able to convince the person to go ahead and eat it again. lol.
There is talk that the aircraft in question has had a couple of pressurisation warnings in the past week. It could be that this exit door has been working its way loose for some time eventually letting go yesterday.
@@NicolaW72 From what I've read, the plug is (should be!) bolted in place and hidden behind an insulated panel; there are no status switches as on opening doors and so no way either from the cockpit or non-invasive internal inspection to find the fault. The grounded aircraft are being inspected by removing the panel to check the four bolts have been installed correctly so as to prevent the plug riding up and coming off the retaining lugs (these, looking at the pictures, appear to all be in place, so it's not a lug failure).
There’s two things contributing to this. First, as you move away from the hull breach the velocity of the air drops off dramatically, so it produces little noise. Second, the high velocity air at the breach is producing most of the noise, but is also getting sucked out of the plane very quickly, so the noise will not propagate very well back into the plane.
VAS, Thank you very much for putting this out so quickly for us, and HNY! You've been busy this week and we hope you can slow down and enjoy the holidays (what's left of them!).
People criticizing the initial call by the pilot seem to be forgetting they went from a normal flight, to the headsets blown off their heads, ears popped, and the pilot slamming into the display from the pressure within seconds of each other. I think we can excuse the first officer for not using proper protocol for the first call after that.
And breaking news, the FAA has just grounded ALL 737-9 MAX aircraft operated by US carriers or operating in US territory, affecting about 171 aircraft.
@@bartvanleeuwen6701Thud is correct. The FAA ordered an emergency grounding and inspection of 171 737-9 MAX aircraft worldwide. The inspection will take 4 to 8 hours and once complete, the aircraft may resume it's journey assuming nothing is found in the inspection
@thebrain7441 It takes time for information to get to the pilots. Plus, they have to find a place to land and get inspected. You can't land at Joe Schmoes strip and expect everything to go right
Como controlador de tráfego aéreo, fico impressionado com o despreparo da colega... logo no início, a piloto declarou emergência e disse que era uma despressurização da cabine...qualquer ATCO sabe o que é isso e o que isso implica, especialmente na necessidade de uma descida rápida para estabilizar a pressão...no entanto, a controladora pergunta mais 2 ou 3 vezes qual a natureza da emergência...meus Deus!
Hats off to the pilot communicating. She controlled her emergency. Had all the information before the controllers asked. She told them what she needed to get the plane down ASAP. Great job Alaskan.
The pilot is actually the reason this didn’t go as usual, smooth, because she didn’t follow procedure and declared the emergency with “we’d like to go DOWN!”, confusing ATC - if she would of followed procedure, pretty sure ATC would of gone with standard training and this would of gone smoother
She probably did call for emergency but with all the chaos in the cabin, the call button may not have been pressed when she initially spoke. You can’t fault her too much for that initial call.
Oh boing to the max at it again! From the beginning to the end you can really tell that explosive decompression rattled the pilot pretty good… did great good job!
Seatbelts, it doesn’t even have to be tight. Just having it loosely fastened is the difference between having a good day and a bad day if you hit turbulence or depressurization.
@@Lessenjr True, but the number of people who don't wear them anyway during required times is ridiculous. In the Asiana crash at SFO, 2 of the 3 people who died almost certainly would have escaped with nothing more than minor injuries if they had been wearing their seatbelts.
@@Lessenjr True, you can't fix stupid. But the problem is, this stupidity can also be lethal to others, not just the stupid person. If a person without a seatbelt is thrown from the seat for whatever reason, they can become a projectile and kill or seriously harm others. That's why this is unfortunately one of those cases where you have to try and fix stupid if possible.
A really troublesome start into the New Year! Fortunately nobody was hurt in this incident, but there´s now definetely something to explain! Thank you very much for picking this incident up so quick again!👍
I once heard "Boeing" described as "the sound made when the part falls off the plane and hits the ground." This is what happens when you only have one real competitor in the airliner market.
This is what happens when you merge with a company that cares only about profits (McDonnell Douglas) and absorb that culture, and it finally catches up with you.
If you look at pics from inside the plane there seems to be no structural damage which implies this door simply came loose and blew off cleanly…the 2 arms you see hanging in the shot from the outside are the slide mechanism (which probably had the slide removed as well as the arming mechanism to reduce weight) and not anything structural…so this is probably a case of a mechanic forgetting to properly torque the bolts while fitting the door plug
Also, it's not like they're competing fairly with Airbus. There are reasons you're not boarding A380s on the regular, and almost all of them are dirty.
I’m glad I watched Mentor Pilot and Juan Brown do this report before finding this audio. It is so cool that we have you guys covering these events each of you bringing a new understanding of things. Thank you❤
Thank you for the video of this incident that just happened less than 24 hours ago. Also great pilots on that flight who were well ahead of the situation (and ATC) and maneuvering the aircraft for an immediate landing back at PDX. I guess this will be an interesting investigation how such a young aircraft (only a few months old) can loose a big part of its fuselage. I'm sure it will also get a lot of media attention (at least in Europe it already does) since it is a MAX, although the -900ER uses the same type of plug for the unused emergency exit.
100% too many here want to criticize the pilot's tone in the initial call -- when she likely had no idea what happened -- instead of ATC’s absolutely sub-par performance at Seattle but especially Portland. I fly Alaska regularly and I'd happily fly with them tomorrow. Great pilots, good ground staff, no comment on their executive management.
Yes, they were turning into the approach before ATC caught up "It looks like you are already on the localizer" And she pretty much gave herself clearance to land.
Yep! Emergency aircrafts have priority and don't need to be cleared by ATC. They *should* still be cleared by ATC for safety reasons, but the pilot has authority to "clear themselves" if needed.
We may have had a better audio than Seattle Center had, there’s a lot of terrain between south of Portland and the Seattle area. What caught my ear is Portland not getting info passed on from Seattle and not even knowing they were an emergency aircraft.
Really seems like they failed to communicate between controllers adequately. I hope the FAA makes some changes. It’s not like the controllers weren’t hearing the pilots (Except for the very first emergency declaration). They just weren’t passing the information along clearly enough. I really like the training some airlines are giving to pilots to address controllers as “ MAYDAY.” “Alaska 1282 MAYDAY” conveys all of the information that “emergency aircraft” carries and has the benefit of being much easier to understand in every language and when communications are muffled by O2 masks. I doubt any controllers would have asked if they were declaring an emergency.
@@B3MDUSA It has always astounded me that American pilots don't use MAYDAY as is standard pretty much everywhere else - there was a video that went up recently of a small single-engine plane with an engine fire that landed at an unmanned airport that did, in fact, declare MAYDAY - and all the other planes in the vicinity knew exactly what that meant. Having to repeat 'yes we are an emergency aircraft', more than once, is a distraction that pilots simply don't need, and the whole 'are you declaring an emergency' just adds to the time taken to DO anything, plus adding to an already stressful situation and high workload. Well done to the pilots in getting back down safely, and well done to the ATC for clearing the airspace around them to let them get back safely.
What is going on with ATC the last few years where it seems like we need to declare an emergency multiple times and silly questions still get asked like nature of emergency when it was already stated? No handoff info for a mayday aircraft?
"Portland Fire Department, what's your emergency?" "Yes, hi.....I seem to have have a hole in my roof and something that resembles an aircraft door in my basement"
It’s simply astounding that the controller is repeatedly asking “state nature of emergency” what part of the pilot’s excited voice and depressurized is not clear? Looks the controllers forgot the pilot’s mantra of aviate, navigate, and only then communicate.
You're wrong, it is standard protocol...this is for many reasons but for one, they need to know the nature of the emergency to coordinate an appropriate ground response. They need to know if they need to roll fire trucks, ambulances, or have a police response.
@@tbone6924 I understand your point. But the pilot did say depressurization, twice. I was thinking from the pilots viewpoint. They need to fly a structurally compromised aircraft. They can very well do without being repeatedly asked the same thing. At one point in the video you can hear the exasperation in the pilot’s voice. Unfortunately in the US the use of Pan Pan is not common. I remember seeing a video on this same channel about a Lufthansa 747 landing at JFK who lost an engine and informed the tower and then said it’s not an emergency and the tower controller is incredulous. In Europe and many other parts of the world they would have declared Pan.
"There's a freakin' HOLE in the PLANE. We're going to land!!" It bugs me too that ATC always want things repeated, more than once, when the pilots are trying to deal with a really tough situation.
She was repeating training she probably did a dozen times before. She know what she needed to do after the shock wore off. And both our traffic controllers asked her what they needed to do and what she wanted to do. She had to deal with one aircraft. They have to deal with many.
@@predragbalordaOh come on, this is internet. Nobody knows anyone. Chill out, you should expect basement people of the world commenting here and there. If you can't handle people being mean return to your room and close the door.
Do we know if she's the Captain or the FO? I understand in an emergency they'd split duties so it could be the FO who was communicating with ATC while the pilot flew the airplane. Also, I don't think gender mattered. The crew was spectacular.
That was so frustrating to hear. How many times, in how many ways does one need to comvey "HEY! AIRPORT! NOW! PLANE BROKEN! DANGER!" Kudos to the captain for dealing with ATC during their nap time. Having to declare an emergency more than a couple times must have been incredibly stressful.
Imagine telling someone in 2023 that in the first week of 2024 the A350 will suffer its first hull loss and there will also be another 737 MAX incident, but this time without fatalities. Now tell them both incidents would actually be a boon for Airbus by boosting passenger confidence in its products.
@@breakinghues2751 Huh? I didn't say anything about diversity. I'm talking about things like Ashley St Clair just reported about them hiring people that failed simulations training, etc several times and other things like that for to shortages. Apparently there's similar issues with ATC and mechanics/techs. I've seen several recent videos about it from pilots, etc. And no, I don't think they had anything to do with this particular issue since they just grounded the entire fleet of those planes.
@@TwistedQuestionMark ignorant blaming diversity at Boeing while the more successful competitor is a consortium made up of literally multiple diverse countries. Theres like 5 official languages at Airbus. lmao.
Although adrenalin kicked in for the Pilot by the time she got below 10,000 you could tell she was going through the numbers and had settled down. Great job
Why is this the narrative? We are listening to the recording; she's freaking the f out. If this is "elite" where does that leave anyone with actual composure?
@@TheSurrealGoose You have no idea what you're talking about. I know you've obviously never had to not inhale between speaking/keying the mic with an O2 mask on based on your comments. Save it for the professionals.
For others that come into this thread looking at the dumb comments edrcnc has made, just look at the upvotes for clarity with the comments. Professional pilots view this channel. They're obviously not one and are confusing radio transmissions with actual performance. The crew immediately stated they're starting down - they didn't initially ask for permission. They did exactly as they were supposed to. Only an outsider would think that a stressed sounding voice = the opposite of composure. You aren't in the flight deck, you're just getting a sliver of what is actually occurring. Aviate, Navigate and finally COMMUNICATE. In that order. The thing you were privy to is the communicate part as they're busy getting the airplane down and in a safer state.
@@defaultname2417 Got any other platitudes to spout? I'll also address the crowd now: Instead of reading this moron's screed, do yourself a favor and go listen to some other explosive decompression recordings. Decide for yourself if this series of comms was more or less composed.
I'm with the folks who are questioning why the pilot did not say MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY! Instead, they said they were declaring an emergency 3 times before ATC recognized fully that there was a real problem! To me saying all those words instead of just saying MAYDAY is a mistake. The whole point of declaring an emergency is to get immediate attention! If I was an ATC controller handling multiple aircraft, hearing MAYDAY would immediately communicate the seriousness of the situation and shock me into action! There is no confusion when hearing that word!
@@SiriusMined What does a movie have to do with anything? There should be a clear, short and standard unambiguous term for an emergency. The very fact that the pilot had to repeat declaring the emergency 3 times before ATC fully understood that they were in fact in an emergency situation should be evidence enough to support my point! It certainly wasn't enough in this case...
I'm reminded of the Southwest 737 with the uncontained engine failure that diverted to Philly. Then the captain told ATC that they had a hole in the side of the plane and someone was sucked out the response was "someone was....never mind we'll deal with that later"
The lock bolts that prevent the plug door from moving maybe were not fitted? In the early 90s I found a rusty old skin pin on a stringer aft cargo on an old 747 during a D check. It must have been left behind during manufacture. It had nearly worn a hole through the skin due to vibration movement.
She was pretty terrified in the first 2 calls to tower, but seems to have gotten her nerves back after that. Glad to see that ! Pilots, like EMTs need a greater tolerance for stress and fear than the rest of population as they have to recall more detailed info to perform lifesaving procedures than the rest of us… 😓😓😓
EMT's and other first responders have it somewhat easier because we usually have some idea what we are going into and some time to get our head in the game. In this case they were flying along, climbing through 16,000 feet when suddenly there is a loud noise, the aircraft, probably lurched one direction or another, the cabin depressurizes, half the panel lights up. The pilots had to get on oxygen and determine if they even had a flyable aircraft with no real idea what is going on. There is not an "Oh crap, a door that isn't really a door fell off" warning light on the panel.
She *sounded* stressed. What she *did* was follow her training, perfectly. I'd fly with her any day. And as a frequent Alaska passanger, probably I have or will.
There's this enigmatic word that possesses the powers to be understood worldwide of all language speakers, that will immediately make it clear without a shadow of doubt that a vessel is in distress. For some reason one nation that measures distances and dimensions in body parts and bald eagles is religiously reluctant to the use of this word.
The force of the blast ripped the headset off the co-pilot and part of the pilot's headset. The door of the cockpit flew open banging against the lavatory. The plane had three pressurization warnings on so many previous flights. All according the NTSB news conference. No wonder there was such a panicked tone in the voice of the pilot....She thought the plane was goners...well, almost.
There was, very recently, a video uploaded of a single-engine plane with a fire whose pilot - in the US! - called MAYDAY, and it sounded so much more understandable than these emergencies declared by pilots flying commercial planes.
After viewing the news coverage and hearing what happened on board, the cockpit door slamming open, checklists flying out of the plane and the First Officer hitting (her?) head, I'm even more impressed by how well this flight crew performed! That was a catastrophic failure! Everyone on board should go buy a lottery ticket!
In so many incident/accident recordings everyone is so impressed that the pilots sound so cool and calm while the aircraft is in a perilous state that would cause the average person to panic. They can keep their cool because they train extensively on these scenarios. This recording shows that in scenarios that are completely missed by training (in this case because no one outside Boeing knew it could happen), pilots are not immune to panic. But what's doubly impressive is how quickly the pilot communicating could return to her typical state of calm and professionalism after the initial experience.
Glad nobody was hurt or killed. ATC seemed a bit asleep during this event. The pilot working the radios was very excited but totally understandable. The system worked and everyone got down safely. Now we can figure out what happened and fix it.
well the 737M is definitely a corporate reputation catastrophe for Boeing (as well as the Starliner space capsule), but more specifically I read they have big issues with the contractor building the fuselages, I wouldn't be surprised if the problem originated there....
I crashed in a commercial sea plane in 1979 flying between Santa Catalina and San Pedro, CA. As the cabin filled with water I remember clearly one of the two pilots yelling "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" into the radio. This gal was very calm, which is good. But the ground people seemed kind of slow on the uptake.
ATC: say the nature of your emergency and your intentions Pilot: We depressurized and are descending to 10000 feet ATC: yeah yeah, that's great, when you get a minute, tell me the nature of your emergency and your intensions...
ATC want to keep track and ensure pilots are alert. And in control of the aircraft. That’s why ATC keeps asking. Pilots alert in control and navigational communication have to be on tracking.
So glad no one was injured and plane returned safely. I heard some cell phones were sucked out, be interesting if phone location can help find the door that was blown off and see if phones still work?
I can drop my phone from my living room sofa and it breaks. If someone's phone survived a fall from 16,000' Apple or Samsung needs to make them all like that!
You never know, someone dropped an iphone x with an ottercase that survived 11,000 ft. Also, a go pro survived a fall and fell into a pig pen. Sorry, to hear about your phone.@@achmedbincouscous2846
On Reddit, it was mentioned that phones in airplane mode may not be being able to ping locations to help locate them. No one there knew if that was actually true, but it's a possibility.
Wow! That got everyone's heart rate up a few notches! You can tell how stressed the pilot is at first. When they have the aircraft stabilized she came right back down. I sure don't want to hear any nonsense about female pilots! That was the definition of a high stress situation. Any pilot would have shown stress in their voice. ATC did a good job of keeping that calm voice. The only quibble I have is why the pilots didn't call Mayday! She sure was right on top of getting souls and fuel before asked. Aviate, navigate, communicate. Well done!
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Alaska Airlines has grounded all their Boeing B737-9 MAX.
The panel that separated is part of a section that covers the original emergency exit configured for high density seat configuration, not used on Alaska airplanes.
blancolirio just put up the skinny on this too.
Looks like the FAA just grounded all 737-9 max's
Thank you for the explanation. I was searching for a picture of the exterior and when I saw it it does look like an overwing exit door.
All 737 max9, approx 171 planes worldwide, are grounded by faa
@@gppharmd03 www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-statement-temporary-grounding-certain-boeing-737-max-9-aircraft
The bolts holding those seats in place are the unsung heroes of this emergency
Indeed. And always wear your seatbelts, no matter the light signal, please.
👍🏻💯💯
😂
That's correct 💯.
All true, but actually, assuming people are belted (big assumption), it's not really a huge issue for the bolts as such. Even at full altitude the pressure differential isn't actually that large, certainly not enough on its own to cause a bolt failure. It's not a black hole or vacuum cleaner like you see in the movies. Bigger issue is air is too thin to breathe for prolonged time and also very cold, but it doesn't instantly suck everything out. Source: I design airliner structures.
Edit: by the way, for all the people who suddenly discovered their specialty in aircraft design in time to dump all over my comment, there's a story in the Wall Street Journal today (1/7) making this EXACT same point.
Some say atc is still asking for the nature of the emergency to this day. Hats off the pilots for their patience.
Well to be honest I can imagine he got pretty frustrated by receiving the same "depressurisation" answer multiple times which won't give him any clues as to what to tell the emergency vehicles waiting
@@nikolass4925All the pilot might know is that the cabin pressure alarm came on and they wouldn't know any more than that. In this case I'm sure the cabin crew called it in real quick, but ATC pressing for info the crew might not even have is not that great.
The first one. Then they were dealing with a professional
@@2xKTfc Yeah completely understand that, though I also understand the ATC trying to be helpful since that information is definitely useful to have. "Depressurisation" to me seems about as useful an information as "something is wrong with the plane, we need to land". But yeah, I appreciate the pilot might not have had more information either at this stage
@@nikolass4925 Depressurization is a "key word" in airline lingo meaning the cabin has lost pressure (unknown cause), oxygen masks are automatically deployed while pilots don their own special oxygen masks, the plane must descend ASAP to 10,000 or less....handbook steps for any sudden depressurization event.
Crew members and ATC personnel are trained to listen to these key words.
This is upside-down-world.
ATC asking are you really declaring an emergency, and pilot giving out fuel and soul numbers without being asked and ATC didn't seem to be interested in them.
😂
Yea ATC was so stupid.
standard american ATC - they are not with the program - CANADA and EU have a far better system of phraseology and ICAO terms
No, ATC would be interested in those things. The pilot knew that they would be interested in those things, so felt the need to tell them in advance to keep the conversation short. They practice these things all the time.
Yeah ATC seemed confused. The pilot was asked for the nature of the emergency three or four times despite saying "depressurization" on ever single call.
it is a reference to almost every other dialogue we hear on this channel, where the exact oposite more often than not, unfolds. 😅😅@@neilkurzman4907
As an ATC, that’s pretty terrible coordination between Tower and Approach.. glad they got down safely.
The controller is still asking what the nature of the emergency is…..🤦🏻♂️
I think you mean between Seattle Center and Portland Approach. Tower seemed to know exactly what was going on.
First two controllers were absolutely useless and dangerous. They need retraining immediately.
There's a reason the ATC is missing Emergency calls it's because pilots in the U.S are trained incorrectly.
They don't follow international protocols on the radio.
They all say "Declaring an emergency" which is wrong. It should be either Pan Pan Pan or Mayday Mayday Mayday, that does two things.
It sends a clear message without any doubts to the ATC and nearby aircraft.
It also defines the seriousness of the Emergency depending on which is used.
I've been saying it for years.
One day this will surface as part of the NTSB investigation, it will be one of the holes in the Swiss cheese that contributed to a chain of events that led to an unnecessary human tragedy .
I hope it never happens, but sadly, one day it will.
There are international standards for a reason.
@@Bohemian-Rhapsody I have been saying this since I have been watching the videos. This is international standard and American pilots don't follow it. It only works out in the end because Americans are native English speakers. If this was Asia you could have some serious miscommunications.
Very interesting that you hear the pilot become calmer over time as they get their heads around the problem and run through their procedures. That first radio message was total surprise, no protocols followed at all, and by the end of the emergency the pilot literally has a jaunty little chuckle at the ground controller checking that the descent wasn't going to be too steep during approach.
Adrenaline is a hell of a drug...
Startle and surprise is a human factor that we discuss during training at the airlines. It’s very real. Plus wearing those full face oxygen masks is very disorienting at first and takes a few minutes to adjust to.
She sounded that way because she had her oxygen mask on, they were above 10,000 feet.
They would have had a ton of work to do, memory items for getting the mask on, some different feeling in the controls due to the drag from the door, probably more noise in the cabin. Checklists to start working through. Meanwhile the adrenaline is kicking in. They flew the plane and communicated what they needed, that's plenty good enough.
Crazy the way it sucked the cockpit door open, can't imagine if at 30,000+ feet.
Unbelievable how often they had to state the nature of their emergency, or even that they ARE an emergency.
The FAA has recently been hiring many incompetent controllers.
My thoughts also.
That's because the panicking lady didn't. "We want to go down" was the first thing she said. Completely un-professional.
Canadian and Europeans have it right - flight call sign + mayday on their calls. These atc seem very unconcerned.
And the amount of fuel, all pointless questions
Imagine the frustration of having to explain MULTIPLE times you’re declaring an emergency…
For sure, but they also really should have called out MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY along with flight number and a declaration of descending to 10,000 right off the bat.
@@seanmolincreative That's not how things work, you don't have to call a MAYDAY or PAN PAN when declaring an emergency, they are seperate things. It depends on what criteria Alaska Airlines has in their SOP
Can't controllers communicate with each other before these emergency aircraft are handed off? I know everyone is busy but just seems ridiculous that the pilots in an emergency situation have to repeat the same things over and over when it has already been received by ATC.
@@thud9797 of course they can - look at the famous Hudson landing. You had hotlines set up for fast, easy handoffs. This urgently needs addressing here…
@@seanmolincreative pretty sure whilst you’re trying to emergency descend, doing quick memory items and checklists, whilst also donning EROS and potentially talking on the phone to crew - with all the warning alarms sounding in the cockpit… you may not think to say Mayday. EROS (their oxygen mask) also makes speaking more difficult - and you’re trying to co-ordinate and communicate with your copilot. Everyone in aviation knows emergency descent to 10K is a universal depressurisation procedure and they need to land ASAP. 100% easy to gather it’s an emergency. Just seems they were caught off-guard and their mind didn’t really want to accept they’d a potentially serious emergency to deal with.
Legend has it ATC is still wondering if this is an emergency.
If I would hear an emergency announcement as “we’d like to go DOWN!”, I would still be wondering as well. They would of followed their training if the pilot followed procedures
A mayday mayday mayday call wouldve brought the atc in the right mindset. this pilot was also panicking to me.
🤣
@@aliancemdyou would HAVE made your message easier to read if you followed the rules of English grammar.
Was wondering why I thought I heard the faint sound of drumbeats. Miss the content on your channel...
I've watched VAS for a while as an interested bystander, but this one hits home since it's my home airport, my preferred airline, planes that I recently went on, and a flight that I may take in the future. Super scary.
Hey neighbor. Same! The last few times I've flown out of PDX I've seen some concerning things including someone on the ground, working on an AC problem, nodding off while doing his work. The passenger behind me mentioned it to the flight attendant and she just shrugged.
Friends had flown out of PDX to Ontario a week or so before on the same airline. Yeah, they had to consider that. At least Alaska and Boeing is addressing the issue,
The 737 max should be no ones preferred plane
Flew out of PDX back to Dallas on Alaska and a 737 Max not to long ago. I really thought Boeing had changed the reputation of the Max for the better, but the quality control of these aircraft is alarming.
@@LouT1501is Boeing really addressing the issue of the FAA has to step in and ground all Max 9’s worldwide? Idk about you, but it feels the longer this aircraft flies the more issues it has. Maybe I’m wrong statically, but it’s not a good look.
Incredible professionalism by the flight crew, handled the emergency perfectly. Hats off to them!
Well done to the crew, the pilots were two steps ahead of ATC the entire time and didn’t wait for a clearance to intercept the LOC. They knew what they needed to do and did it and let ATC catch up. Bravo
Save peoples lives first, then ask questions.
Except I couldn’t understand the pilot. I have not seen the names of the pilots but think communication equipment in the airline industry needs massive improvement. The Japan collision is a classic example.
@@thereissomecoolstuffthey had oxygen masks on.
@@thereissomecoolstuff She was very clear? And it sounds better irl through professional headphones.
@@marcpost4034 not initially. She was fired up but got it together and kept it together. Excellent job by the amazing Alaska Airlines crew. No one died. If had been Spirit Airlines at least 10 would have been sucked out.
wow that was a quick upload! thankfully no serious injuries reported
Indeed. It could have been serious.
The fact the shirt got ripped off of a kids back near the blowout says how close it was
@@jyggalag169Not only that, imagine if the door had hit the horizontal stabilizer on the way out.
This incident and the Japan disaster were warnings. We're only going to get so many of those before someone's luck runs out.
@@rebelfighter5249 what are you talking about? Peoples luck did run out in the Japan incident, 5 people are dead.
That Alaska pilot was two steps ahead of ATC through the whole incident.
Although she sounded stressed*, she was fast, clear and gave all the info needed before even asked for. Great job indeed. (*I assume when they first declared that they were descending, they had no idea what happened and they got depressurized).
oH yEaH GrEaT calm job.
@@Wriwnas1 Talking into an oxygen mask may have made her voice sound more stressed, too.
I thought the ATC sounded more stressed then the pilot. Why can't the ATC relay the information they have to the handoff controllers? The pilots have enough to deal with.
@@Wriwnas1to be fair as far as she knew initially the plane may very well be disintegrating around her and people might already be dead. Other fuselage ruptures have come down to whether the plane can land before the airframe critically deforms and the plane becomes impossible to fly. This one wasn’t as severe but she had no way to know that with the information on hand.
Can’t imagine how terrifying that woulda been to be a passenger. Especially if you were sitting near the blowout. Seat belts and the bolts on those seats saved many lives.
The news report said the teen whose shirt got ripped off took it in stride... The flight attendants moved him and his mother to safer seats out of caution...
@@Ysalomet They found two iPhones from passengers on that flight - I wonder if they found the boy's t-shirt. Could you imagine what a museum piece that would be? He could have it framed as a trophy or sell it for thousands!
Good news is that this exchange can serve as excellent educational material for anyone in ATC.
Judging by this interaction, they don't USE such material and "training" just involves a rubber stamp...🙄😒
They were way above the glide slope at some point. The crew really nailed that landing without any unnecessary delays.
Kudos to them!
ATC to the pilots: "Would you like to run a box before taking the approach"
Pilots: "Nah - I'd like to get this thing on the ground as soon as possible before any other parts start falling off, please and thank you."
@@jamesmorin7343 Yip. ATC had a hard time keeping up with them.
Another great reminder to always wear your seatbelt during the entire flight.
One report said a mother and child were seated nearby and it pulled the shirt off the child. So glad there were no catastrophic injuries. There was that other horrific incident a few years ago.
I'm always impressed by the calm professionalism of the flight crew and ATC. I might be crying for my mother.
I know I saw a report stating that the seat adjacent to the blowout was empty, but it ripped the entire seat back out of the plane, and left the base of the seat.
Calm professionalism? The flight crew from freq was clearly rattled verging on panic and ATC wasn't listening in the slightest to begin with.
@@jijonbreaker Oh dear...
I saw a tweet from a passenger on the plane, who was sitting just opposite the blown off door. He said that two passengers had actually booked the seats right by that door but they missed the flight. Bet they feel incredibly lucky
@@kye3398 How would a passenger know who had booked and not made the flight?
If the newest update I'm hearing is accurate (NTSB via NBC) - the cockpit door was ripped open, their headsets were ripped off, and checklist lost.
Even if you're superhuman and not panicking from that, that has to make for a difficult situation. And certainly explains the state of crew transmissions.
All the more impressive what the crew accomplished!
I've been plane spotting at PDX for years and this is the most intense aviation incident I've seen since I have started spotting. I was at PDX spotting on the Friday that this happened, and left just thirty minutes before this flight landed safely. It's a miracle there were no fatalities here. Massive props to the pilot for being two steps ahead of ATC and maintaining composure, getting the plane down as quickly as possible. I fly from PDX to ONT frequently on Alaska and was planning to fly this route on Sunday. It gives me chills knowing this could have been my plane. Even more shocking that this was a brand new 737-9 MAX, whose first flight was in October. Very unfortunate for Boeing who will have to deal with yet another major grounding issue with these planes. Can't imagine how terrifying this would have been but very glad that everyone is okay.
I've done some plane spotting as well since the beginning of the pandemic, from one of the perches on Marine Drive. I actually arrived at one of them about 45 mins after 1281 landed, having no idea that any of this had happened. Everyone on the radios seemed cool like a normal day. Of course, I couldn't see anything on the south side of the terminal where 1281 would've been parked. Glad to hear everyone is relatively safe!
Flightaware indicates the PDX-ONT route is usually flown with a 737-800, not the MAX-9. I also find it interesting that this aircraft arrived from NY-Kennedy 2 hours before this flight, following a redeye San Diego-Kennedy flight. So it did a lot of flying before this incident.
Thanks!
If some media reports that the aircraft is about 2-3 months old is accurate, Boeing will have to take a hard look at quality control and whether that air frame left the factory with pre-existing flaws.
The plane was delivered to Alaska on 10/31/23
Honestly it seems like there will be another court case where it comes out that boeing engineers told mcdonnell management for years that installing a door plug from the outside is fucking stupid.
Boeing doesn’t make the fuselage, it comes from Spirit Areospace in Witchta, Kansas.
It was declared airworthy on 10/25/23
@@MessyPointedBlobdon't understand? The 737 max is a full Boeing product
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, in that order, which is exactly what this pilot and her colleague appear to have done, as demonstrated by the fact she was two steps in front of the controller(s) in information being provided & where she wanted to go & when (one controller even trips over himself at one point, telling them to intercept the localiser before realising they'd already got there and done it) throughout this emergency. It's since been confirmed by the NTSB that the cockpit door had been ripped open and jammed during the decompression & a headset had been pulled off one pilot as well. No wonder the pilot sounded a bit "excitable" in the first couple of transmissions. What's fustrating is the pilot had to continually "communicate, communicate, communicate" her situation (the last of the three steps in importance) because ATC were lagging behind her. She did well to keep her composure with them. I do wonder if the US implementing "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!" as a standard (like almost all the rest of the world) might have helped in this situation.
In the US, both are acceptable, "declaring an emergency" and "mayday mayday mayday". They have the same exact, official meaning, and controllers must treat both as declared emergencies. Non-US pilots will generally use mayday, which is the international standard, and controllers know what it means.
I think in the US there is a connotation of panic associated with mayday, as if we're saying "We're all gonna die!" I've heard transmissions from Europe where "mayday" is used with any type of emergency - engine out, suspicious odor in the cockpit, medical emergency, whenever they need emergency handling. I've also heard them use mayday as part of their callsign, and say mayday each time they contact a new controller. Here in the US I think people perceive it as "We're going down!"
The one time I declared an emergency (lost all pitot *and* static instruments due to a fat wasp wanting to share the same airspace as my pitot tube on departure), I said "I'm declaring an emergency" instead of mayday because I had a passenger sitting next to me in my rented Cessna, and I knew if he heard "mayday" he would find it alarming. As it was, I explained to him what was happening, there was a procedure to fly safely back to the airport, and that declaring an emergency allows me to fly in non-standard ways and gets others clear of us so we can get back on the ground sooner. He still freaked out, but he didn't tell me so until we were on the ground.
Even in the midst of all that chaos, the pilot was still pretty darn polite. Glad that no one was killed in the accident. Hope the kiddo that was injured will be okay.
Glad passengers were still buckled in.. This could have been catastrophic...
if that hatch had hit any control surfaces.
@@MrGchiasson Cannot believe the one kid had his shirt torn off by the force of the decompression.
@@woodrax Note to hipsters - don't wear baggy pants on Alaska flights. You could be de-pants, and not even have a say in the matter.
The pilot training is paid off. You can tell by the voice she was terrified at first but after that she regained control and manage to land the plane safely. If one is in state of panic they wouldn’t able to think clearly at all.
@@dimasnaufalpratama4812 I know in some instances that the pilots, even in the face of death, held things together. The CVS from the Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 is horrifying, but the pilot in command spent the entire descent working the issue, and trying to calm his co-pilot.
After the pilots said 2 times that they depressurized, ATC is still saying "say the nature of your emergency". Pay attention people.
Sometimes things happen quickly
That crew was A+! They need to be recognized for their quick thinking, flawless decisions, and heroism.
Have a feeling that the kid sitting close to where the blowout occurred, won't be wanting a window seat ever again. Thank goodness everything turned out well.
based on the number of daily flights, the chances of a blowout are so incredible rare that it would equal something like having 5 car crashes on the way to the airport
@@ghostrider-be9ek I'll let you explain that to the kid. Tell me how it turns out. lol
@@jaredjones6292 again, a sample size of 1 does not mean anything - why are statistics confused with emotions in our modern society?
@@ghostrider-be9ek another question you can ask the kid. Why do people refuse to eat a certain food after getting violently sick consuming it? Millions of other people will keep eating it with no bad reaction at all so it would only make sense that someone with your exceptional "people skills" would be able to convince the person to go ahead and eat it again. lol.
If he had been in that window seat his mother and we all surely could have lost him; just like the seat upright cushion missing in that photo.
There is talk that the aircraft in question has had a couple of pressurisation warnings in the past week. It could be that this exit door has been working its way loose for some time eventually letting go yesterday.
Yes. It had been removed from ETOPS operations the day before for that reason.
Yes, indeed - and seemingly nobody detected the reason for that warnings.
@@NicolaW72 From what I've read, the plug is (should be!) bolted in place and hidden behind an insulated panel; there are no status switches as on opening doors and so no way either from the cockpit or non-invasive internal inspection to find the fault. The grounded aircraft are being inspected by removing the panel to check the four bolts have been installed correctly so as to prevent the plug riding up and coming off the retaining lugs (these, looking at the pictures, appear to all be in place, so it's not a lug failure).
@@vbscript2 Yikes, imagine if this had happened halfway across the ocean instead of just after takeoff?
@@bwc1976 good thing ETOPs certed aircraft have more stringent requirements
What surprised me in the passenger cell phone recordings of this is how much quieter the cabin is than I would've expect with such a breach.
There’s two things contributing to this. First, as you move away from the hull breach the velocity of the air drops off dramatically, so it produces little noise. Second, the high velocity air at the breach is producing most of the noise, but is also getting sucked out of the plane very quickly, so the noise will not propagate very well back into the plane.
Not a whole lot of wind either, very surprising.
The above and also many smartphones have noise cancellation microphones.
VAS, Thank you very much for putting this out so quickly for us, and HNY! You've been busy this week and we hope you can slow down and enjoy the holidays (what's left of them!).
People criticizing the initial call by the pilot seem to be forgetting they went from a normal flight, to the headsets blown off their heads, ears popped, and the pilot slamming into the display from the pressure within seconds of each other. I think we can excuse the first officer for not using proper protocol for the first call after that.
And breaking news, the FAA has just grounded ALL 737-9 MAX aircraft operated by US carriers or operating in US territory, affecting about 171 aircraft.
@@bartvanleeuwen6701
No the FAA directive says it will affect 171 airplanes worldwide.
@@bartvanleeuwen6701Thud is correct. The FAA ordered an emergency grounding and inspection of 171 737-9 MAX aircraft worldwide. The inspection will take 4 to 8 hours and once complete, the aircraft may resume it's journey assuming nothing is found in the inspection
@thebrain7441
I assume this grounding means upon next scheduled landing.
@thebrain7441 It takes time for information to get to the pilots. Plus, they have to find a place to land and get inspected. You can't land at Joe Schmoes strip and expect everything to go right
@thebrain7441 My guess is that the grounding only effects aircraft with the cabin configuration which isn't using the lost door as an emergency exit.
Como controlador de tráfego aéreo, fico impressionado com o despreparo da colega... logo no início, a piloto declarou emergência e disse que era uma despressurização da cabine...qualquer ATCO sabe o que é isso e o que isso implica, especialmente na necessidade de uma descida rápida para estabilizar a pressão...no entanto, a controladora pergunta mais 2 ou 3 vezes qual a natureza da emergência...meus Deus!
Hats off to the pilot communicating. She controlled her emergency. Had all the information before the controllers asked. She told them what she needed to get the plane down ASAP. Great job Alaskan.
The pilot is actually the reason this didn’t go as usual, smooth, because she didn’t follow procedure and declared the emergency with “we’d like to go DOWN!”, confusing ATC - if she would of followed procedure, pretty sure ATC would of gone with standard training and this would of gone smoother
She probably did call for emergency but with all the chaos in the cabin, the call button may not have been pressed when she initially spoke. You can’t fault her too much for that initial call.
Oh boing to the max at it again! From the beginning to the end you can really tell that explosive decompression rattled the pilot pretty good… did great good job!
Seatbelts, it doesn’t even have to be tight. Just having it loosely fastened is the difference between having a good day and a bad day if you hit turbulence or depressurization.
Thankfully the failure happend during ascent while belts are still mandatory.
@@Lessenjr True, but the number of people who don't wear them anyway during required times is ridiculous. In the Asiana crash at SFO, 2 of the 3 people who died almost certainly would have escaped with nothing more than minor injuries if they had been wearing their seatbelts.
@@vbscript2 Well, can't fix stupid. I don't fly often, but i think I'll leave mine on full-time when I do from here in out.
@@Lessenjr True, you can't fix stupid. But the problem is, this stupidity can also be lethal to others, not just the stupid person.
If a person without a seatbelt is thrown from the seat for whatever reason, they can become a projectile and kill or seriously harm others.
That's why this is unfortunately one of those cases where you have to try and fix stupid if possible.
@@indianboy0453 great point!
A really troublesome start into the New Year! Fortunately nobody was hurt in this incident, but there´s now definetely something to explain! Thank you very much for picking this incident up so quick again!👍
I once heard "Boeing" described as "the sound made when the part falls off the plane and hits the ground." This is what happens when you only have one real competitor in the airliner market.
This is what happens when you merge with a company that cares only about profits (McDonnell Douglas) and absorb that culture, and it finally catches up with you.
If you look at pics from inside the plane there seems to be no structural damage which implies this door simply came loose and blew off cleanly…the 2 arms you see hanging in the shot from the outside are the slide mechanism (which probably had the slide removed as well as the arming mechanism to reduce weight) and not anything structural…so this is probably a case of a mechanic forgetting to properly torque the bolts while fitting the door plug
@JimAllen-Personanot maintenance, the plane was brand new, about a month old
Also, it's not like they're competing fairly with Airbus. There are reasons you're not boarding A380s on the regular, and almost all of them are dirty.
@@ropersonline What kind of dirty reasons? Suitcases full of cash being handed out by Boeing to government regulators?
Wow, that was a pretty steep descent once she finally got clearance! Glad they got back safely.
I’m glad I watched Mentor Pilot and Juan Brown do this report before finding this audio. It is so cool that we have you guys covering these events each of you bringing a new understanding of things. Thank you❤
Mentour is a hack.
It amazes me the lack of communication between facilities. How many times did she say she was depressurized.
The crew did an amazing job.
was the pilot a woman?
@@User-jr7vfit seems so, why
@@User-jr7vfYes, but why does that matter?
the ghosts of an antique airframe are haunting the max. except in this case, where some managed to escape.
Fantastic job by the pilots and excellent communication.
The worst nightmare possible is to get into an emergency with a female pilot
Thank you for the video of this incident that just happened less than 24 hours ago. Also great pilots on that flight who were well ahead of the situation (and ATC) and maneuvering the aircraft for an immediate landing back at PDX. I guess this will be an interesting investigation how such a young aircraft (only a few months old) can loose a big part of its fuselage. I'm sure it will also get a lot of media attention (at least in Europe it already does) since it is a MAX, although the -900ER uses the same type of plug for the unused emergency exit.
A miracle no casualties. ATC was behind, but Alaska's pilots are top-class.
100% too many here want to criticize the pilot's tone in the initial call -- when she likely had no idea what happened -- instead of ATC’s absolutely sub-par performance at Seattle but especially Portland.
I fly Alaska regularly and I'd happily fly with them tomorrow. Great pilots, good ground staff, no comment on their executive management.
“Top-class” - the pilot literally introduced all the confusion by Not following procedures and declaring the emergency with “we’d like to go DOWN!”
Sounded like a DEI hire
Fine job of airmanship intercepting Loc at 7000 feet, 270 knots and getting slowed, down and stabilized. Prolly rolled in on. Good job crew!
Yup.
ATC "are you sure??"
Pilot "we got this"
Yes, they were turning into the approach before ATC caught up "It looks like you are already on the localizer"
And she pretty much gave herself clearance to land.
She cleared herself for the approach! LOL
ATC: "you are cleared from there" - I would read as that too
Yep! Emergency aircrafts have priority and don't need to be cleared by ATC. They *should* still be cleared by ATC for safety reasons, but the pilot has authority to "clear themselves" if needed.
Very busy week this week in aviation.
She pulled herself together well
Kudos to the pilot in handling this emergency calmly and capably.
Really curious as to why the ATC felt the need to ask for the nature of the emergency like three times when the pilots stated it from the beginning
different controllers and probably had been give the info about the nature of the emergancy before being handed over to.
It must be frustrating for the pilots (who are dealing with an emergency situation) to keep having to repeat themselves.
We may have had a better audio than Seattle Center had, there’s a lot of terrain between south of Portland and the Seattle area. What caught my ear is Portland not getting info passed on from Seattle and not even knowing they were an emergency aircraft.
Really seems like they failed to communicate between controllers adequately. I hope the FAA makes some changes. It’s not like the controllers weren’t hearing the pilots (Except for the very first emergency declaration). They just weren’t passing the information along clearly enough. I really like the training some airlines are giving to pilots to address controllers as “ MAYDAY.” “Alaska 1282 MAYDAY” conveys all of the information that “emergency aircraft” carries and has the benefit of being much easier to understand in every language and when communications are muffled by O2 masks. I doubt any controllers would have asked if they were declaring an emergency.
@@B3MDUSA It has always astounded me that American pilots don't use MAYDAY as is standard pretty much everywhere else - there was a video that went up recently of a small single-engine plane with an engine fire that landed at an unmanned airport that did, in fact, declare MAYDAY - and all the other planes in the vicinity knew exactly what that meant. Having to repeat 'yes we are an emergency aircraft', more than once, is a distraction that pilots simply don't need, and the whole 'are you declaring an emergency' just adds to the time taken to DO anything, plus adding to an already stressful situation and high workload.
Well done to the pilots in getting back down safely, and well done to the ATC for clearing the airspace around them to let them get back safely.
I want this pilot flying the aircraft I am traveling on. She kept a cool head and was very, very patient.
Props to the flight crew... seems like ATC was behind the curve the whole way in.
What is going on with ATC the last few years where it seems like we need to declare an emergency multiple times and silly questions still get asked like nature of emergency when it was already stated? No handoff info for a mayday aircraft?
You guys are the BEST! Thank you.
"Portland Fire Department, what's your emergency?"
"Yes, hi.....I seem to have have a hole in my roof and something that resembles an aircraft door in my basement"
Lol, except here it would be Tualatin Fire and Rescue. They handle that whole part of the metro area.
It’s simply astounding that the controller is repeatedly asking “state nature of emergency” what part of the pilot’s excited voice and depressurized is not clear? Looks the controllers forgot the pilot’s mantra of aviate, navigate, and only then communicate.
Not to mention the pilot is obviously wearing a O2 mask.
You're wrong, it is standard protocol...this is for many reasons but for one, they need to know the nature of the emergency to coordinate an appropriate ground response. They need to know if they need to roll fire trucks, ambulances, or have a police response.
Probably wanted to know the reason for the depressurisation. As in was is the compressor failure or were there bits of plane missing.
Find me one of these videos where the pilots DIDN'T get asked by every controller they spoke with. It's almost like it's done this way on purpose.
@@tbone6924 I understand your point. But the pilot did say depressurization, twice. I was thinking from the pilots viewpoint. They need to fly a structurally compromised aircraft. They can very well do without being repeatedly asked the same thing. At one point in the video you can hear the exasperation in the pilot’s voice.
Unfortunately in the US the use of Pan Pan is not common. I remember seeing a video on this same channel about a Lufthansa 747 landing at JFK who lost an engine and informed the tower and then said it’s not an emergency and the tower controller is incredulous. In Europe and many other parts of the world they would have declared Pan.
And what was again the nature of the emergency?
"There's a freakin' HOLE in the PLANE. We're going to land!!"
It bugs me too that ATC always want things repeated, more than once, when the pilots are trying to deal with a really tough situation.
ATC is the nature of the emergency.
“Uuum, will you need like ground assistance or something?”.😂
I live in the Portland area and have not heard anyone finding the plug yet.
Me too, and as of 9pm, it still hasn't been reported as being found
That pilot lady had nerves of steel for answering to every inquiry like that. I'd have just said "emergency clear me to land now!!"
you aren't a pilot - please silence
@@slates010 please silence? Wow, your dad must be proud how you've grown!
She was repeating training she probably did a dozen times before. She know what she needed to do after the shock wore off. And both our traffic controllers asked her what they needed to do and what she wanted to do. She had to deal with one aircraft. They have to deal with many.
@@predragbalordaOh come on, this is internet. Nobody knows anyone. Chill out, you should expect basement people of the world commenting here and there. If you can't handle people being mean return to your room and close the door.
yeah. cool like a cucumber. you can see RUclips's AI kick in 100s of DEI comments
Given the amount of STRESS within seconds the female FO's handling to me is OUTSTANDING !!! GREAT JOB GUYS!!!
LOL!!!
Do we know if she's the Captain or the FO? I understand in an emergency they'd split duties so it could be the FO who was communicating with ATC while the pilot flew the airplane. Also, I don't think gender mattered. The crew was spectacular.
It was ok and she got the job done but outstanding? Please... She sounded like she was in a complete panic during the first call.
@@klrbeech7054 So, the mask covered her screaming and DEI badge? Okay.
@@klrbeech7054 Yes, you’re right. Her panicked screaming at ATC is what saved the day. 🙄
That was so frustrating to hear. How many times, in how many ways does one need to comvey "HEY! AIRPORT! NOW! PLANE BROKEN! DANGER!" Kudos to the captain for dealing with ATC during their nap time. Having to declare an emergency more than a couple times must have been incredibly stressful.
Imagine telling someone in 2023 that in the first week of 2024 the A350 will suffer its first hull loss and there will also be another 737 MAX incident, but this time without fatalities. Now tell them both incidents would actually be a boon for Airbus by boosting passenger confidence in its products.
We'll be seeing a lot more of this because of their new hiring practices.
@@TwistedQuestionMark I don’t think diversity has much to do with a door ripping off of an aircraft.
@@breakinghues2751Anything to blame those pesky minorities.
@@breakinghues2751 Huh? I didn't say anything about diversity. I'm talking about things like Ashley St Clair just reported about them hiring people that failed simulations training, etc several times and other things like that for to shortages. Apparently there's similar issues with ATC and mechanics/techs. I've seen several recent videos about it from pilots, etc. And no, I don't think they had anything to do with this particular issue since they just grounded the entire fleet of those planes.
@@TwistedQuestionMark ignorant blaming diversity at Boeing while the more successful competitor is a consortium made up of literally multiple diverse countries. Theres like 5 official languages at Airbus. lmao.
Although adrenalin kicked in for the Pilot by the time she got below 10,000 you could tell she was going through the numbers and had settled down. Great job
Just imagine sitting in that row after it happened and making the left turns you’re just looking directly at the ground hold on for dear life
And what is worse, when you realise the person in the cockpit is a woman. That would scare me enough to not even BOARD that plane.
Thanks Victor! Fast work!
Composure of the pilot was elite.
Why is this the narrative? We are listening to the recording; she's freaking the f out. If this is "elite" where does that leave anyone with actual composure?
@@TheSurrealGoose You have no idea what you're talking about. I know you've obviously never had to not inhale between speaking/keying the mic with an O2 mask on based on your comments. Save it for the professionals.
@@skinnybricks Compelling argument. Now that you've just told me I'm wrong with no further explanation, surely that invalidates my question.
For others that come into this thread looking at the dumb comments edrcnc has made, just look at the upvotes for clarity with the comments. Professional pilots view this channel. They're obviously not one and are confusing radio transmissions with actual performance. The crew immediately stated they're starting down - they didn't initially ask for permission. They did exactly as they were supposed to. Only an outsider would think that a stressed sounding voice = the opposite of composure. You aren't in the flight deck, you're just getting a sliver of what is actually occurring. Aviate, Navigate and finally COMMUNICATE. In that order. The thing you were privy to is the communicate part as they're busy getting the airplane down and in a safer state.
@@defaultname2417 Got any other platitudes to spout? I'll also address the crowd now: Instead of reading this moron's screed, do yourself a favor and go listen to some other explosive decompression recordings. Decide for yourself if this series of comms was more or less composed.
Love the 'Have a good day' hand-off to the **EMERGENCY AIRCRAFT** by the ATC X-)
Americans. They do it automatically.
"You sure you don't wanna stay in the air 1282?" "No."
I'm with the folks who are questioning why the pilot did not say MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY! Instead, they said they were declaring an emergency 3 times before ATC recognized fully that there was a real problem! To me saying all those words instead of just saying MAYDAY is a mistake. The whole point of declaring an emergency is to get immediate attention! If I was an ATC controller handling multiple aircraft, hearing MAYDAY would immediately communicate the seriousness of the situation and shock me into action! There is no confusion when hearing that word!
This isn't a movie. Declaring an emergency is sufficient. Hearing "declaring en emergency" should be enough.
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. I think from the whole exchange it's pretty clear that communication fell of the waggon and that's the way to go.
@@SiriusMined What does a movie have to do with anything? There should be a clear, short and standard unambiguous term for an emergency. The very fact that the pilot had to repeat declaring the emergency 3 times before ATC fully understood that they were in fact in an emergency situation should be evidence enough to support my point! It certainly wasn't enough in this case...
In the USA Mayday is Not a term normally used, All USA trained pilots and controllers use "declaring an emergency"
She was in a panicked state during the first few minutes. Not professional at all.
Boy, that pilot didn't mess around......great job ....
I love this channel. I've been watching for this one to post.
Thank you for posting these great videos!
Boeing will, of course, immediately begin an investigation into whoever makes their airplanes now and get to the bottom of this asap.
@@FRANKI18136I mean I've never heard of a Comac having something like this happen smh
lol yeah we investigated ourselves and found nothing we did wrong
With the completely unbiased FAA.
THEY build their airplanes
The most important in this sort of investigations is not to get on your own trail
This is a miraculous ending. Solid aircraft to handle this without worse events to souls. ❤ Cheers to ATC, Pilot and crew and souls aboard ASA1282
Except maybe it should have been built correctly so that the door plug doesn’t fly out after 2 months of service?
@@fabandyou One hundred percent agree with you. Looks like FAA going to monitor more closely. It should be a given I know? Pete
What is the nature of your emergency?
I have big frigen hole in the side of my airplane!!!
I doubt at the onset of the emergency, that they knew what caused it.
What is the nature of your emergency?
I have big frigen hole in the side of my airplane!!!.......so what is the nature of your emergency?
I'm reminded of the Southwest 737 with the uncontained engine failure that diverted to Philly. Then the captain told ATC that they had a hole in the side of the plane and someone was sucked out the response was "someone was....never mind we'll deal with that later"
They would know there was a hole in the plane, but not a door sized hole right next to a little kid on row 26.
The lock bolts that prevent the plug door from moving maybe were not fitted?
In the early 90s I found a rusty old skin pin on a stringer aft cargo on an old 747 during a D check.
It must have been left behind during manufacture. It had nearly worn a hole through the skin due to vibration movement.
Must have been something the noises, smells and sights.
Quite the reminder you're flying around in heavy industrial machinery.
Glad all are safe.
She was pretty terrified in the first 2 calls to tower, but seems to have gotten her nerves back after that. Glad to see that ! Pilots, like EMTs need a greater tolerance for stress and fear than the rest of population as they have to recall more detailed info to perform lifesaving procedures than the rest of us… 😓😓😓
EMT's and other first responders have it somewhat easier because we usually have some idea what we are going into and some time to get our head in the game. In this case they were flying along, climbing through 16,000 feet when suddenly there is a loud noise, the aircraft, probably lurched one direction or another, the cabin depressurizes, half the panel lights up. The pilots had to get on oxygen and determine if they even had a flyable aircraft with no real idea what is going on. There is not an "Oh crap, a door that isn't really a door fell off" warning light on the panel.
Yes, the pilot was a little panicked when she first called but I probably would have been too.
@@Cthippo1- the plane wouldn’t have lurched, and one or two panel lights would have displayed plus the master warning lights. Don’t exaggerate.
@@charleshaggard4341 yes, my thought exactly! I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have recovered my nerves that quickly! 😅
She *sounded* stressed. What she *did* was follow her training, perfectly. I'd fly with her any day. And as a frequent Alaska passanger, probably I have or will.
There's this enigmatic word that possesses the powers to be understood worldwide of all language speakers, that will immediately make it clear without a shadow of doubt that a vessel is in distress. For some reason one nation that measures distances and dimensions in body parts and bald eagles is religiously reluctant to the use of this word.
The force of the blast ripped the headset off the co-pilot and part of the pilot's headset. The door of the cockpit flew open banging against the lavatory. The plane had three pressurization warnings on so many previous flights. All according the NTSB news conference. No wonder there was such a panicked tone in the voice of the pilot....She thought the plane was goners...well, almost.
"Have a good night."
Yeah, I think that ship sailed. Well done to the flight crew!
"We can get down" indeed. Great piloting.
It was pure luck that they landed safely. Next time I advise the passengers NOT to board a plane with a female pilot.
Professionally handled to say the least. Good job ATC and the pilots
If you’re really gonna give props to ATC, you might as well give props to Boeing while you’re at it.
Man, just once can I get an actual MAYDAY call in a MAYDAY situation? Either way, great job everyone
There was, very recently, a video uploaded of a single-engine plane with a fire whose pilot - in the US! - called MAYDAY, and it sounded so much more understandable than these emergencies declared by pilots flying commercial planes.
This would be an even better PAN-PAN, PAN- PAN!!
@@OregonQuake I'm pretty sure depressurization is a mayday, not a pan-pan.
In the USA Mayday is Not a term normally used, All USA trained pilots and controllers use "declaring an emergency"
All the crew knew at first was that there was a depressurization. The plane was otherwise controllable, so I don’t see the need for a mayday call.
After viewing the news coverage and hearing what happened on board, the cockpit door slamming open, checklists flying out of the plane and the First Officer hitting (her?) head, I'm even more impressed by how well this flight crew performed! That was a catastrophic failure! Everyone on board should go buy a lottery ticket!
In so many incident/accident recordings everyone is so impressed that the pilots sound so cool and calm while the aircraft is in a perilous state that would cause the average person to panic. They can keep their cool because they train extensively on these scenarios.
This recording shows that in scenarios that are completely missed by training (in this case because no one outside Boeing knew it could happen), pilots are not immune to panic. But what's doubly impressive is how quickly the pilot communicating could return to her typical state of calm and professionalism after the initial experience.
Mayday, mayday, mayday. It brings so much clarity to the situation. Use it!
And squawk 7700.
Glad nobody was hurt or killed. ATC seemed a bit asleep during this event. The pilot working the radios was very excited but totally understandable. The system worked and everyone got down safely. Now we can figure out what happened and fix it.
Thankfully no one was injured. Boeing stock will nosedive on Monday in anticipation of this ultimately being Boeing's fault.
someones getting fired for sure!
well the 737M is definitely a corporate reputation catastrophe for Boeing (as well as the Starliner space capsule), but more specifically I read they have big issues with the contractor building the fuselages, I wouldn't be surprised if the problem originated there....
Stock dropped 8% or about 13 billion, but it will come back.
Thanks God that everyone is safe.❤
First ever VASAviation video where noone comments "I have a number for you to call"....oh, wait....😂
I crashed in a commercial sea plane in 1979 flying between Santa Catalina and San Pedro, CA. As the cabin filled with water I remember clearly one of the two pilots yelling "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" into the radio. This gal was very calm, which is good. But the ground people seemed kind of slow on the uptake.
ATC: say the nature of your emergency and your intentions
Pilot: We depressurized and are descending to 10000 feet
ATC: yeah yeah, that's great, when you get a minute, tell me the nature of your emergency and your intensions...
I am a plane spotter at ontario airport. I am glad they are safe. I hope they fly back to ONT.
Some pax were rebooked later that night
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you're always advised to keep your seatbelt on.
I'm pretty sure the reason they advise you to keep your seatbelt on is unexpected turbulence, not that the plane might spontaneously disintegrate.
She rocked... 🫡
ATC want to keep track and ensure pilots are alert. And in control of the aircraft. That’s why ATC keeps asking. Pilots alert in control and navigational communication have to be on tracking.
So glad no one was injured and plane returned safely. I heard some cell phones were sucked out, be interesting if phone location can help find the door that was blown off and see if phones still work?
I can drop my phone from my living room sofa and it breaks. If someone's phone survived a fall from 16,000' Apple or Samsung needs to make them all like that!
You never know, someone dropped an iphone x with an ottercase that survived 11,000 ft. Also, a go pro survived a fall and fell into a pig pen. Sorry, to hear about your phone.@@achmedbincouscous2846
well... someone might have had a nokia 3310 ;)
On Reddit, it was mentioned that phones in airplane mode may not be being able to ping locations to help locate them. No one there knew if that was actually true, but it's a possibility.
Wow! That got everyone's heart rate up a few notches! You can tell how stressed the pilot is at first. When they have the aircraft stabilized she came right back down. I sure don't want to hear any nonsense about female pilots! That was the definition of a high stress situation. Any pilot would have shown stress in their voice. ATC did a good job of keeping that calm voice. The only quibble I have is why the pilots didn't call Mayday! She sure was right on top of getting souls and fuel before asked. Aviate, navigate, communicate. Well done!