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The Alaska Airlines pilot who has been universally praised as a hero for
safely landing a jet after a door plug panel flew off shortly after takeoff is
suing Boeing because he believes the plane maker wrongly tried to blame him
and the rest of the crew.
 
Captain Brandon Fisher was commended by the heads of the National
Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration and even
Boeing executives for helping ensure none of the 177 people aboard flight 1282
were killed when the blowout happened in January 2024.
 
But Fisher's lawyers say Boeing's attempts to deflect liability in past
lawsuits despite what the NTSB investigation found led to the pilot being sued
by some passengers and caused him great distress. Still, experts say it's
unusual for a pilot to sue like this in an incident where he wasn't seriously
hurt or killed. Four flight attendants previously sued Boeing over the
incident last summer.
 
Fisher's lawsuit says Boeing suggested it wasn't responsible because the plane
was "improperly maintained or misused" by others.
 
"It was clear Boeing's words were directed at Captain Fisher in attempt to
paint him as the scapegoat for Boeing's numerous failures," Fisher's lawyers,
William Walsh and Richard Mummolo, wrote in the lawsuit filed in an Oregon
court.
 
The NTSB investigation of the blowout found that four bolts securing what is
known as the door plug panel were removed and never replaced during a repair
as the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft was being assembled. Boeing and key supplier
Spirit Aerosystems, which has since been acquired by Boeing, were both
implicated.
 
The bolts are hidden behind interior panels in the plane, so they are not
something that could have been easily checked in a preflight inspection by the
pilot or anyone else from the airline. NTSB investigators determined the door
plug was gradually moving upward over the 154 flights prior to the incident
before it ultimately flew off.
 
"Boeing's lie infuriated Captain Fisher as well, as he was being castigated
for his actions as opposed to being lauded," Fisher's lawyers wrote. "Because
he had flown Boeing aircraft for the entirety of his employment with Alaska
Airlines, Boeing's attempts to blame him felt like a deep, personal betrayal
by a company that claimed to hold pilots in the highest regard."
 
The NTSB made clear this was caused by a manufacturing issue and the crew's
actions were exemplary. Experienced pilot John Cox, who is CEO of the Safety
Operating Systems aviation safety consulting firm, said the crew did a
remarkable job considering what they were dealing with, and no one has faulted
the crew.
 
"I think the Boeing lawyers were kind of grasping at straws," Cox said.
 
The blowout occurred minutes after the flight took off from Portland, Oregon,
and created a roaring air vacuum. Seven passengers and one flight attendant
sustained minor injuries, but the plane landed safely.
 
"The first indication was an explosion in my ears and then a whoosh of air,"
First Officer Emily Wiprud told CBS News in an exclusive interview in 2024.
"My body was forced forward and there was a loud bang as well. ... The flight
deck door was open. I saw tubes hanging from the cabin."
 
Wiprud said that at that point, she didn't know what was wrong. Instinct took
over, and she and the captain started working to land safely.
 
"I didn't know that there was a hole in the airplane until we landed," Wiprud
said. "I knew something was catastrophically wrong."
 
The 2-foot-by-4-foot piece of fuselage covering an unused emergency exit
behind the left wing had blown out. Only seven seats on the flight were
unoccupied, including the two seats closest to the opening. A teen aboard the
flight had his shirt ripped off his body.  Multiple objects, including the
phones of two passengers, Wiprud's headset and multiple aircraft components,
were sucked out of the aircraft.
 
Shandy Brewer was sitting in Row 10 on the flight when the door blew off. It
was an experience that stuck with her 18 months later.
 
"All of a sudden, just this huge bang happened. It sounded like a firework
going off, like right in your ears, just like so loud," she recalled. "As soon
as I step onto an airplane, tears start pouring down my face every single
time. I haven't been on a flight where that doesn't happen."
 
Boeing factory workers told NTSB investigators they felt pressured to work too
fast and were asked to perform jobs they weren't qualified for.
 
Fisher's lawsuit describes how he and the first officer acted quickly after
losing cabin pressure when the panel blew out to fly the plane safely back to
Portland while decreasing altitude and working with air traffic controllers to
avoid any other planes in the area.
 
The airline didn't answer a question about whether Fisher is still flying for
them, and the lawsuit described him as a citizen and well-respected member of
the aviation community. It wasn't clear Tuesday whether he is still working as
a pilot.
 
The head of the commercial airplane unit at Boeing at the time, Stan Deal,
commended the Alaska Airlines crew for safely landing the plane in a memo to
employees after the incident.
 
Boeing did not comment directly on this new lawsuit. But the company's CEO,
Kelly Ortberg, has made improving safety a top priority ever since he took
over the top job at Boeing in August 2024.
 
The FAA fined Boeing $3.1 million over safety violations inspectors found
after the door plug incident. In October, the agency allowed Boeing to
increase production of the 737 Max to 42 planes a month because inspectors
were satisfied with the measures the company had taken to improve safety.
 
Alaska Airlines also declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the airline
remains "grateful to our crew members for the bravery and quick-thinking that
they displayed on Flight 1282 in ensuring the safety of all on board."

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