Door Departs Boeing Aircraft in Flight – Not “The First Time”

Above photo: A passenger video filmed on the Alaska Airlines flight shows a gaping hole in the fuselage of the plane © Elizabeth Le/AP

The front pages of our newspapers and online websites are full of harrowing articles about the “plug door” that departed Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on Friday, January 5, 2024. Fortunately, there was no passenger seated next to the gaping hole and no lives were lost.

However, this is not the first time that a door departed a Boeing aircraft. On February 27, 1989, United Flight 811 took off from Honolulu, HI enroute to Auckland, NZ. As the aircraft climbed through 23,000 feet altitude, the forward cargo door opened inflight. The forces of the airstream on the door tore a 10×20 foot hole in the side of the aircraft, breaking off a portion of the main deck, throwing nine passengers out of the aircraft to their deaths in the Pacific Ocean below.

Katzman Lampert & Stoll, PLLC, was retained to represent a large number of the United 811 passengers in claims for emotional distress damages arising out of that disaster. Ironically, one of Katzman Lampert & Stoll’s partners, Bruce A. Lampert, was a passenger onboard United 811 that fateful day. The incident reinforced his desire to fight for improvements to aviation safety for all passengers.

In addition to this firm’s personal involvement in the United 811 incident, more recently Katzman Lampert & Stoll has also represented passengers that were onboard the 2018 Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 where a fan blade from the turbine engine penetrated the cabin causing a depressurization of the aircraft and the death of one passenger.

Katzman Lampert & Stoll is very familiar with litigation against the Boeing Aircraft Company, and its suppliers, related to the 737. Our firm successfully represented the estates of the pilot and co-pilot who were killed in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, the 737 Max that crashed after take-off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019.

The quality control at Boeing and the quality of the FAA oversight must be improved drastically. Safety, not profit, must be the prime goal of any aircraft manufacturer.