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- The captain of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 is suing Boeing for $10 million.
- The Boeing 737 Max made an emergency landing after losing a panel in midair.
- Brandon Fisher's lawsuit said Boeing tried to "scapegoat" the pilots.
The captain of the Alaska Airlines plane that lost a panel midflight is suing Boeing, accusing it of trying to "scapegoat" the pilots.
Attorneys for Brandon Fisher filed the lawsuit last Tuesday in an Oregon court, asking for $10 million in damages.
Back in January 2024, Flight 1282 took off from Portland, bound for Ontario, California.
But at 16,000 feet, the Boeing 737 Max lost a door plug — a panel that covers a deactivated emergency exit.
The pilots declared an emergency and descended below 10,000 feet, so there was enough oxygen to breathe normally.
"But for Captain Fisher's heroism and immense display of composure under pressure, the outcome would have been catastrophic," the lawsuit said.
"Instead, Captain Fisher and First Officer [Emily] Wiprud executed a safe emergency landing despite chaotic conditions in the cockpit caused by the gaping hole in the left side of the aircraft."
An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board later found that the plane had left Boeing's factory missing key bolts that would've secured the door plug.
It said that the fuselage arrived from the supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, with damaged rivets. Boeing workers removed the plug to repair them, but didn't put the bolts back in place, the NTSB found. This work wasn't properly documented, which also meant that there was no inspection that could've spotted the missing bolts, it said.
Spirit AeroSystems is also named as a defendant in Fisher's suit. Boeing completed its acquisition of most of Spirit in December, with the aim of integrating its operations to gain greater control over its supply chain.
Fisher's suit said that, while defending a class-action lawsuit related to the incident, Boeing denied liability, saying its products were "improperly maintained or misused by persons and/or entities other than Boeing."
"It was clear Boeing's words were directed at Captain Fisher in attempt to paint him as the scapegoat for Boeing's numerous failures," it said.
The suit says that Fisher suffered emotional distress as a result. "Boeing's comments dramatically exacerbated the life-changing impacts that this incident caused Captain Fisher," it added.
In an internal memo, viewed by Business Insider, which was sent around shortly after the incident, the then-CEO of Boeing's commercial airplanes division, Stan Deal, told employees: "We commend the pilots and cabin crew of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 for their actions to safely land the plane."
Boeing declined to comment when reached by Business Insider, citing the fact that the suit is pending litigation.
Alaska Airlines didn't immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside US working hours.
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