- An Alaska Airlines plane made an emergency landing after a hole blew in the side of the fuselage.
- Newly released audio reveals how the pilot calmly guided the plane to safety.
Newly released audio reveals how the pilot of the Alaska Airlines flight that lost parts of its fuselage mid-flight calmly guided the plane to safety.
Alaska Airlines flight 1282 was heading from Portland to California when a chunk of its fuselage blew off, leaving a giant hole in the side of the plane and forcing it to make an emergency landing.
In the audio, published by the Associated Press, the pilot can be heard telling air traffic control that the plane needed to turn back.
"We just depressurized, we're declaring an emergency. We need to descend down to 10,000. We just need to depressurize and we need to return back to Portland," the pilot tells the controller.
She then tells the controller she would like to get lower if possible and gets the green light to descend to 7,000 feet.
The air controller asks: "Did you declare an emergency or did you need to return to …"
"Yes, we are in an emergency," the pilot responds. "Our fuel is 18,900 pounds, and we have 177 passengers on board."
After some further discussions, the pilot gets the all clear to land.
A dramatic video taken by a passenger on the flight shows a gaping hole in the side of the plane and passengers wearing oxygen masks.
No one was seated in the two seats where the fuselage fell off, and no one was injured.
In response, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),the US aviation regulator, said 171 Boeing 737 Max 9s must be grounded for checks.
Boeing said in a statement: "We agree with and fully support the FAA's decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected plane."
Alaska Airlines previously said in a statement to Business Insider that it was investigating the incident.