Because for the 171 passengers, four flight attendants and two pilots on board Alaska Airlines flight 1282 who experienced all of that on January 5, it could have been so much worse. Passenger oxygen masks hang from the roof next to a missing door plug of an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5. Here’s the ways in which Alaska Air — and Boeing — got lucky to have the plane finally develop problems when and how it did on January 5. Both would not have been the case had the door plug come out at the cruising altitude above 30,000 feet. Damage to the planeThe real nightmare scenario for experts is what happened to the door plug once it blew away.

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Persons: “, ” Jennifer Homendy, Max, ”, Anthony Brickhouse, Boeing —, Jennifer Riordan, Brickhouse, “ There’s, Mike Dostert, Joe Jacobsen, Ben Minicucci, Homendy, ” Minicucci, Dave Calhoun, Calhoun Organizations: New, New York CNN, Alaska Airlines, National Transportation Safety, CNN, Boeing, Embry Riddle University, Alaska Air —, Transportation Safety, Max, Foundation for Aviation Safety, FAA, “, Records, Aircraft, Japan Air Lines, NTSB Locations: New York, Instagram, Alaska, Hawaii, Anchorage, Honolulu, Portland