Alaska Airlines passengers file lawsuit against Boeing, airline: 'Ticking time bomb'
Attorney representing 21 passengers from the Alaska Airlines flight Mark Lindquist on the need to hold Boeing and the airline accountable after a door plug blew out mid-flight
Nearly two dozen Alaska Airlines passengers are taking legal action against Boeing and the airline over last month's terrifying door plug blowout on a mid-air flight.
A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released Tuesday on the incident revealed key bolts needed to hold the door plug in place were missing when Boeing delivered the Max 9 jet.
"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," attorney Mark Lindquist, who is representing the passengers, told "Fox & Friends" Wednesday.
The plane's plug door panel, which covers an extra emergency exit that is only operable on planes with the maximum capacity, blew off the Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines flight at 16,000 feet while it was climbing to cruising altitude after departing Portland, Oregon. The loss of the panel caused the depressurization of the cabin, and the plane returned safely to Portland with no serious injuries reported.
In addition, the pilots were allegedly unaware of how Boeing built the plane and the dangers connected to a door plug blowout.
"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 said.
The attorney is representing 21 Alaska Airlines passengers suing the airline company and Boeing in a lawsuit filed last month in Seattle. From adults to infants, Lindquist's clients are seeking compensation for physical, emotional and financial trauma.
"You're seeing some common issues like sleeplessness, nightmares, flashbacks. Some of them have physical injuries, hearing damage. They've all been impacted pretty severely, to one extent or another. This was a near-death experience for people on the plane," he said.
ALASKA AIRLINES INFLIGHT BLOWOUT COULD HAVE BEEN ‘MUCH DIFFERENT’ SCENARIO, NTSB WARNS
Lindquist shared how one of his clients saw her trauma play out at a birthday party.
"She hears a balloon pop and she breaks down and just starts sobbing. Trauma like this affects the mind and body in strange ways."
"People on the plane thought they might be sending their last text," he continued. "They didn't know. They just hear this woosh! There's a hole in the side of the plane. And in the movies, the plane goes down under those circumstances."
Passengers are not the only ones taking action since the incident. Shareholders have also filed a lawsuit against Boeing, claiming the company prioritized profits over safety.
"Boeing is accountable for what happened," CEO Dave Calhoun said last week. "Whatever the specific cause of the accident might turn out to be, an event like this simply must not happen on an airplane that leaves one of our factories. We simply must be better. Our customers deserve better."
Government agencies have since worked to investigate potential hazards that could affect flights from Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the two U.S. air carriers that use the 737 Max 9, and ordered the aircraft to be grounded for an investigation led by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board. The carriers have since resumed flying some of their Max 9 planes.
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While there is renewed attention on Boeing Max aircrafts, Lindquist called out the FAA for not being more involved in plane inspection.
"Boeing has been essentially their own watchdog for many years, and it's not working. The FAA needs to step up and do their job," he said.
Fox News' Taylor Penley and FOX Business' Eric Revell contributed to this report.