WATCH: Alaska Plane Door Blows Out, Creating A Mid-Air Nightmare

An emergency was encountered today by an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 MAX, as one of its doors blew open mid-air, minutes after take-off. Videos captured by passengers depicted the mid-cabin exit door completely separating from the aircraft.

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Alaska Airlines reported, "AS1282 from Portland to Ontario, CA (California) experienced an incident this evening soon after departure. The aircraft landed safely back at Portland International Airport with 171 guests and 6 crew members. We are investigating what happened and will share more as it becomes available."

An event involving Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 is being investigated by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), as stated in a post on X. The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 16,325 feet before being safely diverted back to Portland, as reported by real-time aircraft movement monitor Flightradar24 in a social media post.

The Boeing 737 MAX implicated in today's incident was delivered to Alaska Airlines on October 1, 2023, and entered commercial service on November 11, 2023. It has accumulated just 145 flights since then, according to Flightradar24.

The 737-9 MAX features a rear cabin exit door aft of the wings but before the rear exit door. This is activated in dense seating configurations to meet evacuation requirements. Flightradar24 noted that these doors are not activated on Alaska Airlines aircraft and are permanently "plugged."