Alaska Airlines plane’s missing door plug found in Portland teacher’s backyard

The door plug that blew off an Alaskan Airlines plane mid flight was found by a Portland school teacher in his backyard, federal officials said Sunday. The crucial 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 the missing piece left a gaping hole in the aircraft — threatening the safety of the more than 170 people aboard.

“We are really pleased that Bob found this,” said NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy, who would only divulge the educator’s last name. “We’re gonna go pick that up and make sure that we begin analyzing it,” she said at a press briefing just moments after learning it was located. More details about the plug were not revealed, including the address where the missing equipment landed.

It was also not immediately known if it was intact, Homendy said. The door “plug” was one of a few items found by residents around Oregon. Two cell phones that were sucked from the plane when the gaping hole caused the aircraft to rapidly depressurize at about 16,000 feet were also picked up by people on the ground.

One of the phones amazingly survived the huge drop and was completely intact and open to an Alaska Airlines flight 1282 passenger’s baggage claim email, a man who found it on the side of the road shared on X. The flight was destined for Ontario, California after taking off from Portland International Airport with 171 passengers and six crew members aboard.

The pilots were forced to make a hasty return to the Portland airport as the hole sucked belongings and chair headrests out of the aircraft and oxygen masks dropped for terrified patrons, officials said. “It was described as chaos, very loud between the air and everything going on around them and it was very violent when the rapid decompression and the door was expelled out of the plane,” Homendy said.

The NTSB chair thanked the flight crew for handling the dangerous situation so well and keeping everyone aboard the damaged plane safe. Earlier Sunday, the NTSB pleaded with residents and business owners to check any doorbell footage they might have, look in their backyards or hop onto their roofs to search for the door plug or other items from the Boeing 737.

Officials said inspecting it would help officials understand why it failed. Before Bob’s discovery, Homendy quipped over the weekend, “If it’s sitting in somebody’s backyard, I would like to see it,” according to CNN. She said Sunday she would personally reach out to Bob to thank him after he sent photos of the door plug to the NTSB.

Analyzing the plug is one of several aspects the board is expected to undertake during its probe of the frightening incident. Homendy said she could not commit to releasing the photos of the blown off part right away because it is evidence..