A door plug that boarded an Alaskan Airlines plane mid-flight was found by a Portland school teacher in her backyard, federal officials said Sunday.
The landmark discovery was announced by the National Transportation Safety Board two days after the Boeing 737 MAX 9 was forced to make an emergency landing when missing debris left a gaping hole in the plane — threatening the safety of the more than 170 people on board.
“We’re very happy that Bob found this,” said NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy, who would only reveal the educator’s last name.
“We’re going to go get it and make sure that we start analyzing it,” he said at a press briefing shortly after learning it was located.
Further details about the plug were not released, including the address where the missing equipment landed. It was also not immediately known if it was still intact, Homendy said.
Analyzing the plug is one of several aspects the board is expected to do while investigating the terrifying incident. AP
Door “plugs” are one of several items found by residents around Oregon. Two cell phones that were sucked from the plane when a gaping hole caused the plane to rapidly depressurize at about 16,000 feet were also picked up by people on the ground.
One of the amazing phones survived the massive drop and was fully intact and open to the baggage claim email of a passenger on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, a man who found it on the side of the road shared on X.
The flight was bound for Ontario, California after departing from Portland International Airport with 171 passengers and six crew members.
Gavin Redshaw shows the drone he used on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, to search for the wreckage of the Boeing 737 Max 9 that went missing during an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday, Jan. 5. AP
The pilot had to rush back to the Portland airport when the hole sucked belongings and seat headrests from the plane and oxygen masks fell to the terrified passengers, officials said.
“It was described as chaos, very loud between the air and everything that was going on around them and it was very violent when the decompression was rapid and the doors were removed from the plane,” said Homendy.
The gaping hole caused the plane to depressurize rapidly at about 16,000 feet and was also picked up by people on the ground. through KPTV
The NTSB chairman thanked the flight crew for handling a dangerous situation well and keeping everyone aboard the damaged plane safe.
Earlier Sunday, the NTSB appealed to residents and business owners to check any recordings of doorbells they have, look in their backyards or climb onto their roofs for door plugs or other items from the Boeing 737. Officials said checking it would help officials understand why it fails.
Before Bob’s discovery, Homendy quipped over the weekend, “If it’s sitting in somebody’s yard, I’d like to see it,” according to CNN.
The flight was bound for Ontario, California after departing from Portland International Airport with 171 passengers and six crew members. via REUTERS
He said Sunday he would call Bob personally to thank him after he sent a picture of the door plug to the NTSB.
Analyzing the plugs is one of several aspects the board is expected to do while investigating the terrifying incident.
Homendy said he could not commit to releasing a photo of the exploding part immediately because it was evidence.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
