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- A passenger told The New York Times of the terror when part of an Alaska Airlines plane blew out.
- He likened the effect to a CO2 canister being punctured.
- An investigation is underway into the blowout on the Boeing plane.
A passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight involved in a dramatic midair blowout said it felt like being inside a gas canister.
Nicholas Hoch, 33, told The New York Times he was sitting in a window seat at the front of Flight 1282 when part of the fuselage blew out near the rear of the plane.
The blowout took place around 10 minutes after take-off from Portland, Oregon on Friday. There were 177 passengers and crew on board the flight to Ontario, California, at the time.
Hoch told the Times that he tried to remain calm and typed out messages to his mother and girlfriend saying there was something wrong on the plane, adding "I love you guys."
He likened the effect of the blowout in the Boeing 737 Max 9 to the air rapidly leaving a punctured gas canister.
"The best way I can describe it is like puncturing a CO2 canister and that vapor releasing out of the canister," he said.
"But we were in that canister."
The blowout caused the plane to rapidly depressurize, and pictures show a gaping hole in the side of the plane.
The jet was flying at an altitude of 16,000 feet when the incident happened, and it was able to make an emergency landing in Portland with none of the 177 people on board seriously injured.
Authorities have said that no one was sitting in the seat next to the part of the plane that fell off.
Passenger Evan Smith told the BBC: "There was a really loud bang towards the left rear of the plane and a woosh noise - and all the air masks dropped."
"They said there was a kid in that row who had his shirt sucked off him and out of the plane and his mother was holding onto him to make sure he didn't go with it."
The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes to be grounded while extra safety checks are conducted.
It's unclear what caused the part of the fuselage to blow out.
The US National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday that a key part of the fuselage, the door plug, had been found in the backyard of a man in Cedar Hills, Oregon.
"Our structures team will want to look at everything on the door - all of the components on the door to see to look at witness marks, to look at any paint transfer, what shape the door was in when found. That can tell them a lot about what occurred," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said, according to Reuters.
She said that the force of the blowout had caused the cockpit door to open, and a laminated checklist and headphones belonging to a pilot had flown out.
Hoch told the Times that everyone remained "eerily calm," during the emergency, though he added that some "were silently freaking out."
In a statement to BI, Boeing said: "Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers.
"We agree with and fully support the FAA's decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane. In addition, a Boeing technical team is supporting the NTSB's investigation into last night's event. We will remain in close contact with our regulator and customers."