Anxiety drives woman to open an emergency exit and climb onto the wing of an Alaska Airlines flight

Air travel is stressful. I know, duh, right? A seemingly casual trip on an airplane can be enough to cause serious anxiety for just first-time fliers and avid travelers alike. However, anxiety seldom prompts a traveler to pop open the emergency exit of her Alaska Airlines flight and jump on the wing of an airplane. 

An anxious traveler ditched her Alaska Airlines flight through the emergency exit and climbed on the wing of the Boeing airplane

Alaska Airlines Flight 323 landed at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) as planned. The airplane touched down and began its taxi to the terminal. Nothing out of the norm there. However, before the airplane could reach its gate, a passenger became so anxious that she opened an over-wing emergency exit.

According to the media relations manager for SEA, Perry Cooper, the traveler then stepped out onto the wing of the aircraft. The airport police responded to the incident, recovering the woman before she incurred any harm. However, rather than arresting the woman, the Port Police handed her over to emergency medical services (EMS) for transport to a hospital. 

Now, this was dangerous for multiple reasons. For starters, most Alaska Airlines Flight 323 aircraft are Boeing 737 MAX 9, a twin-engine jet airliner. The wings of the 737 MAX 9 are tall enough to cause serious injury should a passenger fall off. Moreover, there’s a chance that other passengers could also step out onto the wing, increasing the likelihood of multiple injuries or worse. Not good.