First a boom, then a rush of air: Here's what happened inside that Alaska Airlines flight

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The large "boom" was startling enough, and the roaring upwind that instantly filled the hose compartment near Kelly Bartlett unnerved. Still, it wasn't until a shaken teenager, shirtless and scratched, slid into the spot adjacent to her that she realized conscionable however adjacent catastrophe had come.

A conception of the Boeing 737 Max 9's fuselage conscionable 3 rows distant had blown retired - astatine 3 miles precocious - creating a vacuum that twisted the metallic of the seats nearby, and snatched cellphones, headsets and adjacent the garment disconnected the teenager's back.

"We knew thing was wrong," Bartlett told The Associated Press connected Monday. "We didn't cognize what. We didn't cognize however serious. We didn't cognize if it meant we were going to crash."

The archetypal six minutes of Alaska Airlines formation 1282 from Portland to Southern California's Ontario International Airport connected Friday had been routine, the Boeing 737 Max 9 astir halfway to its cruising altitude and traveling astatine much than 400 mph.

Flight attendants had conscionable told the 171 passengers that they could resume utilizing physics devices - successful airplane mode, of people - erstwhile it happened.

Then abruptly a 2-foot-by-4-foot portion of fuselage covering an unoperational exigency exit down the near helping blew out. Only 7 seats connected the formation were unoccupied, and arsenic destiny would person it, these included the 2 seats closest to the blown-out hole.

The oxygen masks dropped immediately, and Bartlett saw a formation attendant walking down the aisle toward the affected row, leaning guardant arsenic if facing a stiff wind. Then formation attendants began moving passengers from the country wherever the blowout occurred.

Among them was the teenage lad moved adjacent to Bartlett.

"His garment got sucked disconnected of his assemblage erstwhile the sheet blew retired due to the fact that of the pressure, and it was his seatbelt that kept him successful his spot and saved his life. And determination helium was adjacent to me," she said, adding that his parent was reseated elsewhere.

"We had our masks on, and the level was truly large truthful we couldn't talk. But I had a ... notes app connected my telephone that I was typing on. So I typed to him and I asked him if helium was hurt," Bartlett said. "I conscionable couldn't judge helium was sitting determination and what helium indispensable person gone through, what helium indispensable person been feeling astatine the time."

She said the lad typed backmost that helium was OK, but a spot scratched, adding "that was unbelievable" and "thank you for your kindness."

Teacher finds doorway plug

The exit doorway plug landed successful the southwest Portland backyard of precocious schoolhouse physics teacher Bob Sauer. Sauer said his bosom "did commencement beating a small faster" erstwhile helium saw it successful the beam of his flashlight Sunday nighttime arsenic helium searched for immoderate debris.

"It was precise evidently portion of a plane," helium told a radical of reporters extracurricular his location connected Monday. "I thought, 'Oh my goodness, radical person been looking for this each play and it looks similar it's successful my backyard.'"

Sauer said helium and the 7 National Transportation Safety Board agents who came to his location to prime up the doorway plug were amazed it was intact. It appeared that histrion branches had breached its fall.

A headrest landed connected the patio of Sauer's neighbor, Diane Flaherty. Flaherty didn't recognize what the charcoal-colored cushion was until a person emailed her to accidental national agents were looking for airplane parts successful her neighborhood. An NTSB cause came by to prime it up.

"What are the chances that a headrest cushion falls retired of the entity into your backyard?" she said.

Flight unit kept calm

The pilots and formation attendants person not made nationalist statements and their names person not been released, but successful interviews with National Transportation Safety Board investigators they described however their grooming kicked in. The pilots focused connected getting the level rapidly backmost to Portland and the formation attendants connected keeping the passengers harmless and arsenic calm arsenic possible.

"The actions of the formation unit were truly incredible," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said astatine a Sunday nighttime quality conference. She described the country wrong the compartment during those archetypal seconds arsenic "chaos, precise large betwixt the aerial and everything going connected astir them and it was precise violent."

Bartlett echoed praise for the crew, saying the full clip she felt similar the level was nether power adjacent though the roaring upwind was truthful large she couldn't perceive the captain's announcements.

"The formation attendants truly responded good to the situation. They got everyone harmless and past they got themselves safe," she said. "And past determination was thing to bash but wait, right? We were conscionable connected our mode down and it was conscionable a mean descent. It felt normal."

Inside the cockpit, the aviator and co-pilot donned their oxygen masks and opened their microphone, but "communication was a superior issue" betwixt them and the formation attendants due to the fact that of the noise, Homendy said. The pilots retrieved an exigency handbook kept unafraid adjacent to the captain's seat.

The co-pilot contacted aerial postulation controllers, declaring an exigency and saying the level needed to instantly descend to 10,000 feet, the altitude wherever determination is capable oxygen for everyone onboard to breathe.

"We request to crook backmost to Portland," she said successful a calm dependable that she maintained passim the landing.

In the cabin, the formation attendants' contiguous absorption was connected the 5 unaccompanied minors successful their attraction and the 3 infants being carried connected their parents' laps.

"Were they safe? Were they secure? Did they person their spot belts connected oregon their thigh belts on? And did they person their masks on? And they did," Homendy said.

Passengers feared the worst

Some passengers began sending messages connected societal media to loved ones. One young pistillate said connected TikTok that she was definite the level would nosedive astatine immoderate 2nd and she wondered however her decease would impact her mother, worrying that she would ne'er retrieve from the sorrow.

But she and others said the compartment remained amazingly calm. One passenger, Evan Granger, who was sitting successful beforehand of the blowout, told NBC News that his "focus successful that infinitesimal was conscionable respire into the oxygen disguise and spot that the formation unit volition bash everything they tin to support america safe."

"There were truthful galore things that had to spell close successful bid for each of america to survive," Granger said.

Video taken by those connected committee showed formation attendants moving down the aisle checking connected passengers. Through the hole, metropolis lights could beryllium seen flickering past.

Evan Smith, an lawyer traveling connected the plane, told reporters the descent and landing were large but smooth. When the level touched down astatine Portland International astir 20 minutes aft it departed, the passengers broke into applause. Firefighters came down the aisle to cheque for injuries, but nary 1 was earnestly hurt.

Homendy said that if the blowout had happened a fewer minutes later, aft the level reached cruising altitude, the mishap mightiness person go a tragedy.

Bartlett's caput besides keeps returning to the what-ifs.

"I'm gladsome that it is not immoderate worse than it was - that's all. I support coming backmost to it," she said. "Like, however fortunate Jack got. That was his name, the kid who sat adjacent to me. His sanction was Jack, and however fortunate helium was that helium had a seatbelt on."

On Sunday, a passenger's cellphone that had been sucked retired of the level was found. It was inactive operational, having survived its plunge from the sky.

It was unfastened to the owner's baggage assertion receipt.