A mother thought her baby was blown out of a plane. The FAA still allows infants on laps
CNN
It was horrifying enough for anyone when a door plug popped off an Alaska Airlines flight at more than 16,000 feet last year, causing an explosive decompression. But one mother’s nightmare was particularly acute, as she thought she lost her baby out of the gaping hole in the side of the plane.
It was horrifying enough for anyone when a door plug popped off an Alaska Airlines flight at more than 16,000 feet last year, causing an explosive decompression. But one mother’s nightmare was particularly acute, as she thought she lost her baby out of the gaping hole in the side of the plane. It’s an unimaginable horror, and one that safety regulators could have prevented by requiring that parents secure infants on board planes in a car seat, as they must be when riding in a car. But despite years of calls for just such a rule, none exists. Testimony this week at the National Transportation Safety Board hearing into the incident, and transcripts of interviews with flight attendants conducted by NTSB investigators that were released this week, tell of the panic aboard the flight. Passengers’ clothing was ripped off, and their phones were blown out of their hands and sent hurtling into the night by the by the rush of air that accompanied the rapid decompression. The flight attendants weren’t sure whether they had lost any of the passengers until the plane had landed. Initially, they weren’t even sure if the pilots were conscious or in need of medical attention themselves due to problems communicating between the cabin and cockpit.
