By KAELYN CASSIDY Pamplin Media Group

Bigger than a pop but smaller than a boom , the sound of the panel that blew out of the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane on Jan . 5 immediately grabbed Wilsonville resident Kelly Barlett ’ s attention . Three rows behind her was a gaping hole in the fuselage where the plane ’ s window used to be .

“ The plane just filled with wind ,” Bartlett said . “ That was the thing that struck me the most at the time .”

Bartlett , who was recently profiled by Pamplin Media Group for her appearance on season four of the reality TV show “ Lego Masters ,” was not injured during the incident . Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling within seconds , and she remembers hearing children cry and the roaring of the wind and the engine , but the chaos was short-lived . The

COURTESY PHOTOS

Jack and Kelly Bartlett in a selfie on the damaged Boeing 737 over Portland .

flight attendants quickly took control of the situation and helped passengers in the affected row move to empty seats .

“ I knew it was going to be OK — we just needed to get back down to the ground ,” Bartlett said . She added that the incident taught her how important seatbelts are on planes .

No one was sitting in the window seat of the

Three rows behind Kelly Barlett ’ s seat was a gaping hole in the fuselage where the plane ’ s window used to be .

row where the panel blew out , but a young man named Jack who sat in the middle seat moved next to Bartlett after the incident . His shirt had been ripped off by the pressure when the panel broke off , and he had small cuts and red marks on his torso , Bartlett said . They couldn ’ t talk through the oxygen masks , so they used the Notes app on Bartlett ’ s phone to communicate ,

and he told her he was OK .

It was about 15 minutes until the plane landed , and although adrenaline was high , Bartlett said the situation was calm .

“ It was like everybody kind of instinctively knew to stay calm , because panicking wouldn ’ t help anything ,” Bartlett said .

She said she never felt afraid that the plane would crash and knew that they just had to get back on the ground . Despite the hole in the side of the plane , the descent and the landing felt normal , she said , and the passengers were only briefly delayed from disembarking while paramedics helped the passengers who sustained minor injuries . After that , everyone was instructed to grab their belongings and exit the plane like usual . But Bartlett had another flight to catch . “ It was really nerve-wracking to get on another flight , but I kind of thought it was the best thing to do ,” Bartlett said . “ If I hadn ’ t flown , the last flight I took would have been this terrible situation and I didn ’ t want that to give me this lifelong fear of flying .”

With reassurance from her family , Bartlett got on her next flight , and then two more after that . All three were wonderfully uneventful , she said .

“ Just the way flights should be .”

PMG Reporter Jim Redden contributed to this story .

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