Cape Air Flight Returns to Nantucket After Cabin Door Opens Mid-Flight

A Cape Air flight departing Nantucket for Boston returned safely to Nantucket Airport after part of the main cabin door opened up mid-flight on Monday, April 6.

In a statement shared with CBS Boston WBZ-TV, a Cape Air spokesperson said, “Yesterday morning, shortly after departing Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK), flight #5001 experienced an issue in which the upper portion of the main cabin door opened while in flight. The aircraft continued to operate normally.”

Following the incident, the plane landed safely back at ACK without further problems. Cape Air said that the aircraft was taken out of service for further evaluation. Cape Air said it is following established safety procedures and will take any corrective actions based on its findings, according to NBC 10 NEWS WJAR.

Nantucket resident Lizbet Fuller was on board and captured a video of the incident, which she shared on Instagram.

Fuller told The Nantucket Current that passengers boarded a different plane to travel to Boston.

7NEWS Boston spoke with an aviation expert about the incident, who said the plane's passengers were not in danger.

“It doesn't go above 10,000 feet on a short flight like this. It's capable of going higher, the oxygen, you know, it could provide masks, but I'm sure this airplane was at a low altitude, and was not pressurized, so no masks were going to pop out,” said Kit Darby, an aviation consultant.

Another passenger aboard the flight, Lexi Hitchcock, commended the pilot for her response to the incident. 

“As soon as the door opened, she said it was OK and no need to worry. We were up in the air for about 10 minutes until the door opened. It sounded like a massive gust of wind. The pilot did not panic but safely brought us back around the island to land,” Hitchcock reported to the Current.

FlightRadar24 reported that the aircraft involved in the incident was a Cessna 402C, a plane Cape Air calls “the workhorse” of its fleet. In 2024, an incident involving a Cape Air Cessna 402C landed on one wheel due to a gear issue at Boston Logan International Airport.