A loud boom, gusts of wind: Alaska Airlines passengers recall the moment door of plane fell off

The passengers, who were on the Alaska Airlines flight which was forced to make an emergency landing when its emergency exit door fell off mid-air, said that the experience was loud and terrifying.

While speaking to NBC News, Evan Granger, who was seated in exit row seat 16F, said that he heard a “loud boom” followed by “a gust of wind coming in” at around 20 minutes into the flight on Friday (Jan 5). He added that both of his ears became plugged.

“I didn’t want to look back to see what was happening,” said Granger, adding, “My focus in that moment was just breathe into the oxygen mask and trust that the flight crew will do everything they can to keep us safe.”

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Granger further accepted that “there are so many things that had to go right in order for all of us to have survived,” adding that he is “very grateful” that the plane was able to land safely.

Elizabeth Le, who is from Portland, Oregon, said that the flight had taken off from Portland around 20 minutes ago and was headed to Ontario, California on Friday (Jan 5) when she heard a loud sound.

“All of a sudden I heard like a big bang and I didn’t know exactly what was going on, but I look up and the oxygen masks were hanging from the ceiling,” said Le, while speaking to Southern California news outlet OC Hawk. “And then I look to my left and there’s this huge chunk, part of the airplane is like missing," she added.

Extremely loud wind rushed inside the plane: Passenger

Le said that as soon as the door fell, “extremely loud” wind rushed inside the plane, however, the passengers stayed in their seats and kept wearing their seatbelts.

“I couldn’t really think straight because of how loud the wind was. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. There’s a gaping hole. You could see the city and the stars and everything just outside of the window. It was crazy," she said.

Le added that no one was present on the window seat of the row which was directly next to where the plane's part fell off, however, a mom and son were sitting in the middle and aisle seats of that row.

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Speaking to OC Hawk, another passenger Jessica Montoya said that the plane had reached 10,000 feet when the door detached.

“We flew for another three or four minutes, and then we heard this pop and all the oxygen masks came down. I wasn’t afraid. I don’t know why. No one really screamed or anything," she said.

Montoya said she also spoke to someone who informed him that his shirt and phone were “sucked out” of the aircraft. “It was a trip from hell,” said Montoya.

(With inputs from agencies)