More Alaska Airlines passengers join lawsuit after midair blowout; ‘whistling sound’ described

Additional passengers have been added to a lawsuit against Alaska Airlines over a midair blowout last month, with the suit now claiming a “whistling sound” was heard near the plane’s door plug on a previous flight.

The new allegations, included in a lawsuit from attorney Mark Lindquist, center around a claim “a whistling sound” came from the “vicinity” of the door plug on a prior flight, his office wrote Wednesday in a press release.

“Passengers apparently noticed the whistling sound and brought it to the attention of flight attendants who reportedly informed the pilot or first officer,” the release added.

Lindquist’s office said a pilot checked the cockpit instruments, which read as normal, and no further action was taken.

“The resulting shock, noise, and communication difficulties contributed to a lack of proper communication between the flight crew and passengers, thereby intensifying confusion and stress,” according to the lawsuit.

Lindquist initially filed suit last month in King County (Wash.) Superior Court on behalf of four passengers who were on board a Boeing 737 Max 9 when a fuselage panel — or door plug — on the aircraft blew off minutes after takeoff from Portland, Ore., on Jan. 5.

The blowout left a gaping hole on the side of the plane while it was 16,000 feet above Oregon, and pilots were forced to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport. 

Wednesday’s amended lawsuit brings the total number of plaintiffs to 22 individuals, including a couple with an infant, a mother and her 13-year-old daughter, and an unaccompanied minor, Lindquist’s office said.

The amended suit points to the National Transportation and Safety Board’s preliminary report regarding the incident — released Tuesday — that found four bolts used to secure the door plug were missing before the blowout.

The report also noted the pilots and crew were not informed the cockpit door was designed to blow out in a “depressurization situation,” according to Lindquist’s office.

The suit is seeking damages for personal injuries and claims passengers experienced “havoc, fear, trauma, [and] severe and extreme distress” during the incident.

Speaking with Fox News’s “Fox and Friends,” on Wednesday, Lindquist said the plane was “essentially a time bomb.”

“A plane was delivered by Boeing to Alaska Airlines without four critical bolts, which means the plane was essentially a time bomb. This door plug could have blown off at any time,” Lindquist said.

He compared the situation to the two Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes — one in 2018 and one in 2019 — that killed everyone on board. He represented dozens of victims’ families in those cases.

“This is like the Max 8 disaster in that sense, meaning that there was critical information about the plane that pilots did not know. And pilots need to know everything about the plane they’re flying,” Lindquist told Fox News.

The Federal Aviation Administration launched a probe into the incident shortly after the blowout and grounded the entire 737 Max 9 fleet in the U.S. — totaling 171 aircraft. The agency later approved a “thorough inspection and maintenance process” for each of the grounded aircraft, and Alaska Airlines has begun flying some of the jetliners following some completed inspections. 

Boeing faces a separate suit from shareholders over allegations the company misled them about potential “serious safety lapses,” in addition to a class-action suit on behalf of six passengers for allegedly causing physical and “emotional distress.”