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Door flies off small plane during takeoff from Minneapolis

The Metropolitan Airports Commission said the plane did not leave the ground after the door flew off, and made its way back to the gate.

MINNEAPOLIS — The emergency exit door flew off a small plane leaving Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Wednesday.

Tom Yon, a Michigan man who was seated next to the exit, told his story to KARE 11 news partner KBJR. He was on a small eight-person plane flown by private aircraft company Boutique Airlines, headed to Ironwood, Michigan. At about 3 p.m. Wednesday, the plane was picking up speed to take off when the door next to Yon flew open.

"We were just about to take off, probably going I don't know, 100 miles per hour, and the door just flew off," Yon said. "A loud bang and the door flew off and the noise and the wind and everything. I didn't even see my bag get sucked out of the plane."

According to the Metropolitan Airports Commission, the plane never actually left the ground. It returned to the gate at MSP before taking off, and the door was found nearby.

Yon said someone returned his bag to him about an hour later.

"It was scary," he said. "If there would have been a person sitting on the plane with a baby on their lap, I don't know what would have happened."

KBJR reached out to Boutique Airlines but they have not responded. Yon said he plans to take his concerns about the airline to the Gogebic County Board in Michigan during a public meeting Monday.

   

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