Alaska Air Grounds All 737-9 Airliners After In-Flight Window Blowout

Alaska Airlines has grounded  all of its 737-9 aircraft following a significant mid-air incident Friday.

  A window and part of surrounding cabin blows out while plane in air

According to MyNorthwest.com, the airplane was Flight 1282 and had left PDX or Portland International Airport some time after 4 PM headed  for Ontario, CA.

About 30 minutes into the flight, a window  blew out along with a portion of the fuselage. Passengers  described it as a loud boom,  then the oxygen masks dropped as the cabin depressurized, and pilots turned around and made an emergency landing  back in Portland.

MyNorthwest.com says no serious injuries, the seat next to the window was empty, but a middle row male passenger had his shirt ripped off by the sudden vacuum from the blowout.  He had red marks on his body, but is OK.  Passengers said the plane rattled due to the wind, but said the flight crew and attendants were on top of the issue and performed very well in helping passengers and taking control for  safety.

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The airplane had rolled off Boeing's assembly line and been certified a couple of months ago, the incident occurred on the plane's  3rd flight  of the day.

Alaska is working with Boeing to determine what happened, Alaska has decided for precautionary  measures, to ground  all 65 of its 737-9 models til further  notice. The hole was said to be the size of a full-size  refrigerator.