The Alaska Airlines pilot celebrated for his quick thinking and skill in landing a plane safely after a door plug panel detached shortly after takeoff is now taking legal action against Boeing. He claims that the aerospace giant unjustly shifted blame onto him and his crew in previous legal cases.
Captain Brandon Fisher received accolades from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, and even Boeing officials for his decisive actions that ensured the safety of all 177 passengers on flight 1282 during the incident in January 2024.
However, Fisher’s legal team argues that despite the findings of the NTSB investigation, Boeing’s previous legal maneuvers to deflect responsibility have left Fisher facing lawsuits from passengers and experiencing significant personal distress.
“Boeing’s misrepresentation angered Captain Fisher, as he was criticized rather than praised for his handling of the situation,” his attorneys, William Walsh and Richard Mummalo, stated in their lawsuit filed in Oregon. “Having spent his entire career flying Boeing aircraft with Alaska Airlines, Boeing’s attempt to deflect blame felt like a profound betrayal from a company that professes to value its pilots highly.”
Previously, four flight attendants also filed lawsuits against Boeing regarding the same incident last summer.
The NTSB’s investigation revealed that during the assembly of the Boeing 737 Max 9, four critical bolts that secured the door plug panel were removed and not replaced. Both Boeing and its supplier, Spirit Aerosystems, now part of Boeing, were found responsible for this oversight.
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 was able to land safely.
The 2-foot-by-4-foot (61-centimeter-by-122-centimeter) 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.
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 head of the commercial airplane unit at Boeing, 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. But in October the agency allowed Boeing to increase production of the 737 Max to 42 planes a month because its inspectors were satisfied with the measures the company has 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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