Alaska Airlines blowout: Passenger says ordeal was ‘jarring and disorienting’
A passenger on board the plane where part of the fuselage blew off while in the air has said the experience was “jarring” and “disorienting”.
An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to perform an emergency landing on Saturday after a hole was ripped in the space reserved for an extra evacuation door on the Boeing 737-9 MAX jet.
Nicholas Hoch said each minute felt like an hour after he heard a “big boom” or “mini explosion”.
“That was followed instantaneously by a rapid depressurisation of the cabin that consisted of moisture and fluid – almost like a cloud rushing from the front of the plane to the back,” he told Sky News.
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‘We are very, very fortunate’
“My head was on a swivel looking around the entire time trying to figure out what was happening – and what kind of danger we were in.”
Oxygen masks dropped down and flight attendants were quickly communicating to passengers on the intercom system, shouting to “get your masks on” and “get your seatbelts on”, he said.
A “boy” who sat on the row where the hole was made had his shirt ripped off and sucked out of the plane.
But while the plane “fluttered” and lights “flickered”, the passengers heard no other communication and weren’t told about the impending emergency landing, he added.
Sitting 10 rows ahead of the hole, Mr Hoch said the general atmosphere on board was “eerie”, and the passengers around him were “mostly calm”.
His hat was blown off his head, while the people in front had their hair “pushed back”.
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Flight suffers mid-air blowout
“When you’re in that situation there’s not really a lot you can do but hang on… there were a few people that were visibly and vocally upset,” he added.
“A few people stood up on the flight and were yelling some obscenities – shouting ‘there’s an effing hole’… people deal with these situations in different ways.”
The flight had been delayed by about 20 minutes, he said, and “things started to get hairy” five minutes after take-off.
“I think the whole thing lasted about 20-30 minutes, but it felt like four hours.”
Pic: Elizabeth Le/AP
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Mr Hoch said the pilot did a “good job” and addressed the flight once the plane had landed, but they were left “standing for hours” while waiting to hear their next move.
He said it felt like being a “fish out of water”, but he boarded another flight that same night – and he is set to catch a “long flight” later this week.
The airline has since been in touch to apologise, offer a refund and compensation, he said, but there is still no sign of his luggage, which remains missing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.
So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.
This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.
The pilots’ protest letter
Part of the letter translated
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the original letter was written by “bad apples”.
But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.
That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.
Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.
“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.
It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.
“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.
“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”
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UN runs out of food aid in Gaza
Anti-government campaign spreads
Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.
More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.
Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.
He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the authors of the original letter as ‘bad apples’. Pic: AP
He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.
A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.
Threat of dismissal
The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.
We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.
“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.
The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.
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It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.
The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.
More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
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