Emily Wiprud, the first officer, is the first crew member to speak publicly about January's incident.
The Boeing 737 Max was at an altitude of 16,000 feet when a door plug came off the fuselage, causing an uncontrolled decompression and an emergency landing. The incident sparked scrutiny of Boeing, which has since appointed a new CEO .
"The first indication was an explosion in my ears and then a whoosh of air," Wiprud told CBS.
"I didn't know that there was a hole in the airplane until we landed," she added. "I knew something was catastrophically wrong."
She recalled it being "incredibly loud" and wondering why she couldn't hear anything when trying to speak to air traffic control.
Wiprud said her headset was pulled completely off her head by the air rushing out of the cabin. CBS reported that it was sucked out of the hole, along with two passenger's phones .
"I opened the flight deck door and I saw calm, quiet, hundreds of eyes staring right back at me," she told CBS.
When Wiprud asked the flight attendants if they were OK, they responded that there were "empty seats and injuries" — prompting the first officer to believe passengers had been killed.
"My captain is a hero. Same with the flight attendants, same with all the personnel that was there to support us that day," Wiprud said. "And that should be celebrated. Everybody survived."
The investigation into Alaska Flight 1282 is still ongoing. In a preliminary report, investigators said the jet left Boeing's factory without key bolts designed to secure the door plug.
In an interview three days after the incident, one of the flight attendants told investigators they wouldn't feel safe traveling on a Boeing 737 Max .
woman pilot enough said!! 🤣🤣 I barely go on planes if ever I knew and seen my pilot was a woman you could bet your bottom dollar I'm getting the fuq off that plane.... all these equality hires got all types of industries messed up fk that.. I value my life wayyyy more than your goddamn agenda of equality hell of a lot more!!! you won't catch me nahh uhh no way got me fked up if you do!
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