by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:00 AM ET, Mon January 8, 2024
Safety officials working for the United States government
have recovered the door panel that was ripped off an Alaska
Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane during a flight on Friday.
According to Reuters.com,
the door plug blew off as Alaska Flight 1282 flew from Portland, Oregon, to
Ontario, California, with six crew members and 171 passengers onboard, depressurizing
the cabin and forcing the cockpit door open.
The plane’s pilots called for an emergency landing and no injuries
were reported.
The ripped-off door panel was discovered Sunday by a
Portland school teacher who reportedly found it in his backyard. National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy said the agency was
relieved it found the piece, calling it a “key missing component” in the investigation.
“Our structures team will want to look at everything on the
door - all of the components on the door to see, to look at, witness marks, to
look at any paint transfer, what shape the door was in when found. That can
tell them a lot about what occurred,” Homendy told Reuters.
As a result of the terrifying incident, the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) grounded
171 Boeing MAX 9 planes with the same panel, which weighs about 60 pounds and
covers an unused exit door.
In total, 144 of the 171 impacted Boeing planes were operating
in the U.S., with Alaska and United Airlines boasting the largest fleets. To return
to service, the FAA and Boeing have to agree to a criteria for safety
inspections before the work can begin.
To find out which airlines are impacted, whether your flight
will be canceled, and if this situation is related to the Boeing
MAX issues from recent years, check out TravelPulse’s inside look at how
the incident impacts travelers.
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