A WINDOW was ripped from a plane in mid-air tearing the shirt off a child and sucking passengers' phones from their hands.
The Alaska Airlines flight, which left Portland, Oregon for Ontario, California at 4:40pm on Friday was plunged into chaos less than an hour into its journey.
Stunned passengers described seeing a large section of the plane blown out mid-air with dramatic pictures of the aftermath showing a gaping hole in its side.
One passenger told Fox News affiliate KPTV that a child had to be held in his seat by his mom as people lost their phones, which were sucked out of the plane.
Another child closest to the damage lost his shirt due to the violent depressurization, the outlet was told.
Shocking footage shared on TikTok captured the chaos, showing passengers using emergency oxygen masks as the plane was still in the air.
"A part of the plane flew off not even 20 minutes into our flight," the person who posted the clip wrote.
Part of the missing plane is seen in the video with the night sky visible just a few feet from where people are sitting.
The TikToker said that everyone was OK despite the terrifying incident.
"Girls' trip turned into emergency landing trip..." read the caption.
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The airline has since temporarily grounded its fleet of 65 Boeing MAX-9 aircraft while it carries out its investigation.
In a statement from Alaska Airlines CEO, Ben Minicucci, it said: "Following tonight's events on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary steps of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing MAX-9 aircraft.
"Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections.
"We anticipate all inspections will be completed in the next few days.
"...I am so sorry for what you experienced. I am grateful for the response of our pilots and flight attendants.
"We have teams on the ground in Portland assisting passengers and are working to support guests who are travelling in the next few days."
The Boeing 737 MAXs are the most commonly used aircraft for commercial flights in the world with over 1160 in active use.
Back in 2019, the crisis-hit jets sparked safety fears after two fatal air crashes and were eventually grounded across EU airspace.
The following year debris was also found in the fuel tanks of planes kept in storage with the head of Boeing's 737 programme telling employees that the discovery was "absolutely unacceptable".
The planes were eventually allowed to take off in late 2020 after upgrades were made to their jets.
In a statement from Boeing regarding the Alaska Airlines chaos, the company said: "We are aware of the incident involving Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.
"We are working to gather more information and are in contact with our airline customer.
"A Boeing technical team stands ready to support the investigation."
China's aviation regulator is also conducting an emergency meeting to consider its response to the recent mid-air disaster and could ground their fleet, according the Bloomberg.
PLANE HORROR
The flight, carrying 174 passengers and six crew members, left Portland at 4:52 pm but returned just before 5:30 pm.
It rose to 16,000 feet (4,876 meters) before it began descending, according to data on the flight tracking website FlightAware.
Audio of the moment staff on board the plane spoke to air traffic control has also been revealed.
"Yes, we are an emergency," the member of staff said.
"We are depressurized, we do need to return back to... we have 177 passengers."
Alaska Airlines quickly confirmed the mishap in a statement, insisting crew on board were "trained and prepared" to deal with the situation and that the incident was extremely rare.
One scared passenger revealed the text she sent to her family on board the plane after the window blew out.
Emma Vu, who escaped the incident safely along with the other passengers, shared her experience online.
"In the moment I was so scared," she said on TikTok.
The text message sent to her family read: "The masks r down; I am so scared right now; Please pray for me; Please I don't want to die."
The young woman was sleeping when she "felt the entire plane drop" and woke up in a panic.
Emma said: "I am so grateful for the ladies sat next to me... they were so sweet at calming me down, and the flight attendants were giving oxygen tanks to those who needed it more."
"But I was freaking out because my bag wouldn't inflate - and that's literally what they tell you in the safety thing, like don't worry you're still getting air flow... when you're in fight or flight you're not thinking about that."
"It was just so scary, no one knew what was happening, the pilot came on to tell everyone to put your mask on before you help others - literally word for word what they tell you in the safety training."
"A toddler's shirt flew off, and their phone flew out the window," she added.
"It was just so surreal."
Elizabeth, 20, was also onboard the flight.
She told OregonLive that when the window blew off, it "sounded like your ears were popping like normally on a plane, but 10 times louder. I couldn't believe it was real."
"We were all calm," she added, "but I did feel like I was about to cry, because who knows this could be my last few moments."
Kyle Rinker, 29, said the plane became "deathly silent" and "nobody made a noise".
The airline said in a statement: "The aircraft landed safely back at Portland International Airport with 171 guests and 6 crew members,"
"The safety of our guests and employees is always our primary priority, so while this type of occurrence is rare, our flight crew was trained and prepared to safely manage the situation."
It is understood that no one on the flight was injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board has said it is investigating an event on the flight and will share updates when they are available.
Horrified TikTok users were quick to express their shock, demanding more answers.
"Can we find out where in the ACTUAL [did] the piece of the plane landed? [sic] On a car, a home, someone walking in the street?" one person wrote.
"And that is just another reason to never take your seatbelt off on a flight," another said.
"Glad everyone is OK!"
The Sun has reached out to Boeing for further comment.
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The UK Civil Aviation Authority told The Sun: "We are aware of this incident and monitoring the situation very closely.
"We are maintaining regular contact with Boeing and the FAA."
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