Alaska Airlines forced to make emergency landing after window blows out mid-air

An Alaska Airlines flight bound for Ontario, Calif., was forced to make an emergency landing in Portland, Ore., after a window and fuselage blew out mid-air.

The incident occurred shortly after takeoff on Friday and caused the cabin to depressurize. Fortunately, the plane landed safely with all 174 passengers and six crew members, the airline said.

Alaska Airlines said it will be grounding its entire fleet of Boeing 737 Max 9s while the incident is investigated.

All Canadian airlines confirmed to Global News they don't have the Max 9 aircraft in question in their fleets but do have the older model, Boeing 737 Max 8. However, they say the two aircraft don't share the same door configuration.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has grounded more than 170 Boeing 737-9 in response to the incident.

Joe Scarpelli has more on how passengers described their terrifying mid-air ordeal.

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