The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has announced the discovery of the missing part from the Alaska Airlines aircraft that detached mid-flight in a Portland backyard.
A local school teacher named Bob contacted the agency after finding the Boeing 737 MAX 9 fuselage door plug in his yard, as revealed by NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy during a news conference.
Following the incident where the door plug blew off the Alaska Airlines plane shortly after takeoff from Portland on Friday, resulting in the grounding of specific Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft nationwide and numerous flight cancellations, federal investigators had been actively searching for the missing part.
The NTSB had sought assistance from the public and considered deploying helicopters or drones for the search. Locating the door plug was deemed crucial for gathering essential insights into why it became separated from the aircraft, CNN reported.
Earlier, federal investigators released the first image from inside the affected aircraft, depicting a refrigerator-sized hole mid-flight, with a torn headrest from a nearby seat and oxygen masks still suspended from the plane’s ceiling.
Notably, no passengers seated directly adjacent to the section of the plane that experienced the detachment were reported during the Friday flight, as clarified by NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy on Saturday.
Written by B.C. Begley
*The following content has been overlayed by an A.I. system for editing and proofreading purposes and should be used for informational purposes only. Any actions taken based on this content are at your own risk. We recommend seeking qualified expertise or conducting further research to validate and supplement the information provided.
B.C. Begley 