It should have been a routine flight: Alaska Airlines flight 1282 was scheduled to fly from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, last month. But at 16,000 feet (4,900 metres), just minutes after takeoff, a cabin door plug blew out, exposing passengers to the air outside and sucking the shirt off one passenger. No one was injured and the plane was able to land safely but it left the manufacturer Boeing once again facing huge questions: not least, how could this happen?
As Jeff Wise, an airline industry expert, tells Hannah Moore, it is the latest in a long line of safety incidents at Boeing, which has brought its corporate culture under close scrutiny from regulators – and air passengers. In 2018 and 2019 two of its 737 Max airliners crashed, killing 346 people.
The Guardian’s Gwyn Topham says the cost to Boeing’s reputation has been immense but we should not lose sight of the fact that flying is still statistically one of the safest ways to travel.
Photograph: NTSB/Reuters
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