What passengers are saying about the Alaska Airlines fiasco
Disparage social media all you want, but you can’t deny that it has given us enhanced opportunities to view the world from multiple perspectives. Take the recent case of a panel blowing off of an Alaska Airlines plane midflight, for instance — thanks to TikTok, we have a pretty good view of the event from multiple angles.
An Alaska Airlines plane was grounded Friday shortly after departing Portland after a sealed panel blew off the plane, leaving a sizable hole in the body of the craft. The New York Times reported that no passengers were seriously injured, and the plane landed back in Portland without further incident.
The missing part was later located in a Portland backyard, per CNN. According to Reuters, the issue was caused by loose bolts in the plane, a Boeing 737 MAX 9, and several of the same models have been grounded pending inspection.
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What was it like on the plane after the panel blew off?
Although no recordings show the exact moment the section of the plane’s wall was ripped into space, social media has been full of videos passengers took in the moments after.
Vi Nguyen, a passenger from Portland, posted a video of her wearing an oxygen mask and flips the camera to show the plane’s gaping hole several rows ahead of her. Nguyen’s video appears to make light of the situation, with comedic music in the background and text onscreen that reads “POV: woke up from your plane nap thinking it was turbulence...”
Nguyen later spoke to The New York Times about her experience.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘I’m going to die,’” she said.
Several commenters on Nguyen’s video wrote that her video was not the first inside scoop they’d seen.
“I’m so glad we live in a tik tok generation bc I just saw someone else’s video who’s a few rows in front of you,” one user wrote.
The video the commenter mentioned could have been the one posted by TikTok user @nevacapout, who also used a comedic tone in sharing their experience, writing that they expected a “quick easy flight back to school” but that something “took a bite outta the plane” instead.
Other popular videos include two videos from passenger Elizabeth Le, in which she explains that she had been looking forward to a girls’ trip when “a random piece of the plane” flew off. Her videos offered additional information on the incident, including the lucky fact that no one was sitting in the seats directly next to the hole.
Le’s second video showed her and her friends moving onto another flight to continue their trip — although thankfully, the second flight was less eventful than the first. Le noted that she secured her seatbelt for the second flight and encouraged viewers to buckle up.
