Plane’s emergency door flies off just before takeoff: ‘It was scary’

The emergency door of a small plane flew out of its frame and onto the runway on a Minnesota airport shortly before takeoff Wednesday, where one passenger estimates the aircraft was moving around 100 mph when he heard a “loud bang.”

Tom Yon told KBJR-TV that the suction from the missing door lifted a bag that was right by his side and tossed it straight out of the plane without his noticing, leaving him to wonder what would have happened if one of his fellow passengers would have had a baby on their lap.

“It was scary, it was scary,” said Yon, who said he was seated just feet from what suddenly became a gaping hole in the side of the roughly 8-person plane.

Yon said the bag was returned to him about 90 minutes later.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission reportedly confirmed the incident happened around 3 p.m., adding that the plane aborted its launch and returned to a gate at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. The door was reportedly found nearby.

Boutique Airlines, which operated the flight from Minneapolis to Ironwood, Mich., did not reply to a message from KBJR-TV.

Yon said he and other passengers spent $400 on a car to make the roughly 180-mile trip to their destination. No one was reported injured.