US transport safety officials investigating a mid-air emergency on a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane have released thousands of pages of documents, including testimony describing the “chaos” in the moments after the blowout of an unused door.

It came as a two-day National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing about the 5 January incident on an Alaska Airlines flight got underway.

During the event, Boeing told investigators it will introduce design changes to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

The blowout triggered the US aviation giant’s second major crisis in recent years.

In the more than 3,000 pages of documents released ahead of the hearing, the plane’s crew described the violent decompression that resulted from the panel detaching mid-flight.

The plane’s co-pilot told the investigation there was a “loud bang, ears popping, my head got pushed up into the [head-up display] and my headset got pushed, not off my head, but up almost off my head.”

“It was chaos,” they said.

“And then, just all of a sudden, there was just a really loud bang and lots of whooshing air, like the door burst open,” a flight attendant said.

“Masks came down, I saw the galley curtain get sucked towards the cabin.”

The names of the air crew have been redacted in the documents.

At the hearing, Boeing executives were grilled about the manufacture of the aircraft involved in the incident and the lack of paperwork explaining who carried out work on the door plug before the blowout.

A preliminary report by the NTSB detailed how, after a repair at a Boeing facility, the panel had four bolts missing, which should have helped keep it in place.

“The safety culture needs a lot of work,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, adding that the plane maker needs to take steps to address the issues.

“They are working on some design changes that will allow the door plug to not be closed if there’s any issue until it’s firmly secured,” said Boeing’s senior vice president for quality Elizabeth Lund.

The NTSB and Boeing have yet to find out who was responsible for removing and reinstalling the door plug.

But Ms Lund said two workers who are likely to have been involved are now on paid administrative leave.

The incident was the latest major blow to Boeing’s reputation.

It resulted in the grounding of Max 9 planes around the world for two weeks, a ban on increasing production, a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe and a management shakeup.

The company recently said it would plead guilty to a fraud charge related to fatal crashes of two of its 737 Max planes more than five years ago.

Last week, Boeing said it had lost $1.4bn (£1.1bn) between April and June.

It has also named aerospace industry veteran and engineer Robert K ‘Kelly’ Ortberg as its next chief executive.

Citing a need for sustainability, troubled airline Ravn Alaska said Tuesday it will suspend its service to Unalaska, Cold Bay and Sand Point in Western Alaska, starting on Aug. 16.

The decision leaves just six communities as scheduled destinations for Ravn. It follows major cutbacks and changes at the regional carrier over the last year.

Representatives with Ravn, including new chief executive Tom Hsieh, could not immediately be reached for an interview Tuesday.

The latest move will allow Ravn Alaska to focus on other destinations in Alaska, the company said in an online statement addressing “frequently asked questions.”

“This change comes as part of a broader initiative to optimize operations and ensure long-term sustainability and growth for the airline,” Ravn Alaska said in the statement. “By reallocating resources and capacity, Ravn Alaska/New Pacific Airlines aims to enhance service reliability and customer satisfaction across its core network.”

“This was not an easy decision, but it is a necessary step in our long-term strategy to strengthen the overall success of our airline and this shift allows us to concentrate on routes where we can make the most significant impact,” the statement said.

The elimination of the three communities leaves Anchorage, Homer, Valdez, St. Paul Island, Unalakleet, and St. Mary’s as Ravn’s scheduled destinations, according to the company’s website.

Another regional carrier, Aleutian Airways, flies to Unalaska, Cold Bay and Sand Point, among other Alaska destinations.

Officials in Unalaska, a city of 4,200 and a major U.S. commercial fishing port, could not immediately be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Ravn laid off 130 employees early this year, a big cut to its workforce of more than 400 at the time. Last fall, Ravn also halted flights to the communities of Kenai and Aniak.

More recently, it replaced its chief executive and lost a mileage-redemption agreement with Alaska Airlines.

Ravn refunds for affected tickets to Unalaska, Cold Bay and Sand Point will be processed automatically, within 14 business days of the end of service to the communities, the company said in the statement.

“There is no need for passengers to take any action to receive their refunds,” the statement said.

“We understand how disruptive and inconvenient this situation is and deeply regret the impact it has had on your travel plans, as well as the communities we’ve served,” Ravn said in an email to passengers.

The airline has had a rocky history.

Ravn Alaska’s predecessor, RavnAir Group, filed for bankruptcy in June 2020, amid high debts and a sharp drop in passenger traffic during the pandemic.

Ravn Alaska launched in late 2020, after new ownership including McKinney acquired part of RavnAir Group’s assets in a $9.5 million bankruptcy sale.

A new company affiliated with Ravn Alaska, meanwhile, has launched an ambitious bid to create an international airline.

New Pacific Airlines, formerly called Northern Pacific Airways, is listed as the parent company of Ravn in Alaska business records.

New Pacific has plans to provide passenger flights to Asia and the Lower 48 with Anchorage stops, using Boeing 757 jets. The company had planned to begin flying to scheduled destinations such as Tokyo and Seoul in 2022.

But it is currently providing only charter flights, according to its website.

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Alaska Airlines flight attendants feared passengers had been sucked out of the plane in the chaos following the Jan. 5 mid-air panel blowout on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet, according to harrowing testimony released by safety experts on Tuesday.

The comments gathered from interviews with attendants – who were not named – were among thousands of pages of evidence made public ahead of a two-day hearing that began earlier on Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board about the incident.

They provide dramatic accounts of the cabin crew’s efforts to help passengers and communicate with pilots when the panel blew off the jet at 16,000 feet after taking off from Portland, Oregon.

“I said there is a hole in the plane, in the back of the plane and I’m sure we’ve lost passengers,” said one flight attendant with about 20 years of experience, after spotting the hole in the plane and five empty seats.

The attendant was worried about an unaccompanied child toward the plane’s rear. “All I could think of was that he was sitting there and he was too small to reach the mask and was probably really scared.”

The NTSB is reviewing 737 manufacturing and inspections and oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration with a goal of making recommendations to prevent a repeat in the future. The incident has morphed into a full-blown financial and reputational crisis for manufacturer Boeing.

Flight attendants who were not authorized to speak publicly immediately after the accident described a loud bang, whooshing air and for one, tangled oxygen masks.

“I think I was able to (blurt) out, ‘I think we have a hole and we might’ve lost passengers.’ And then it seemed like I just lost contact, I tried calling back, tried speaking loudly into the phone, I couldn’t hear anything,” said a second flight attendant, with almost a decade of experience.

“Probably the scariest thing was I didn’t have exact communication with my flight deck and at first I didn’t know if the decompression was in the front, if we have pilots, and not being able to fully communicate with the back,” the flight attendant said.

The flight attendants both described damage to the plane and injured passengers, including one teen without a shirt on who had a red face and neck. One chair was completely stripped of the leather cover, fabric stuffing, upholstery and head rest tray table with the force of the decompression.

The second flight attendant said eventually pilots informed them that they were going to land, “so I knew that we were going to be okay.”