A schoolteacher in Portland had contacted the NTSB after discovering the missing part of the aircraft in his backyard.
A missing door plug that blew off an Alaska Airlines plane in mid-air on Friday has been recovered in the backyard of a Portland home, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference on Jan. 7, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the missing Boeing 737 Max 9 door plug was found in the backyard of a Portland schoolteacher who was only identified as Bob.
“I’m excited to announce that we found the door plug. Thank you, Bob,” Ms. Homendy told reporters.
According to Ms. Homendy, the schoolteacher contacted the NTSB after discovering the missing part of the aircraft in his backyard and sent two photos of it. Ms. Homendy refused to disclose any details about the location.
“We’re going to go pick that up and make sure that we begin analyzing it,” she added.
Investigators had been looking for the plug that blew off the plane after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, on Friday, prompting the pilots to make an emergency landing.
The airplane, carrying 171 passengers and six crew members, safely returned to Portland International Airport and landed at approximately 5:30 p.m. local time on Friday, according to Alaska Airlines.
The airline said on Sunday that it was willing to conduct inspections of the mid exit door plugs on its 737-9 MAX fleet. Alaska Airlines has canceled hundreds of flights following the incident.
“While we await the airworthiness directive (AD) inspection criteria from the FAA and Boeing, our maintenance teams are prepared and ready to perform the required inspections of the mid exit door plugs on our 737-9 MAX fleet,” the airline stated.
“The 737-9 MAX grounding has significantly impacted our operation. We have cancelled 170 Sunday flights and 60 cancellations for Monday, with more expected,” it said.
NTSB Called for Public’s Help
The NTSB had earlier requested the public’s help in locating the missing plug, as the agency believed it could be a “key missing component” that would help determine the cause of the accident.
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