into alaska airlines 1282 from portland, oregon, to ontario, california, sheer panic, as a piece of the plane went missing. the friday night sky suddenly widely visible from inside the plane as the crew scrambled to keep passengers alive. >> we're declaring an emergency. we need to descend down to 10,000 >> reporter: a cabin panel blew clear off this boeing 737 max 9 aircraft, loaded with 177 passengers and crew. the scene onboard remaining eerily quiet >> a lot of people around me were a lot calmer than i off with thought for a situation like this. >> reporter: an emergency landing back to portland passengers applauding the crew's actions, relieved to be alive. >> this wasn't even the emergency door >> reporter: that refrigerator-sized hole in the plane appearing to be an emergency exit is actually called a plug door to passengers, it would look like any other window seat >> there was thankfully no one seated near the window