Teacher finds part of Boeing panel in yard
A teacher in Oregon has found part of an Alaska Airlines airplane panel that blew out mid-flight in his backyard, officials said, as shares in the beleaguered manufacturer Boeing began falling in pre-market trading Monday after the near-disaster. Dozens of flights have been canceled around the world as airline and safety bodies ground some versions of Boeing’s 737 MAX 9 jet pending inspections after the emergency, which miraculously saw no major injuries.
On Friday, Alaska Flight 1282 departed from Portland International Airport and was gaining altitude when the cabin crew reported a “pressurization issue”, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with the plane quickly returning to Portland.Video images of the incident, which showed a gaping hole in the side of the plane, air rushing through the cabin, oxygen masks dangling and travelers observing city lights below them through the opening, were seen around the world.
“I am excited to announce we have found the door plug,” National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy said at a press briefing. A door plug is a cover panel used to fill an unneeded emergency exit in planes with smaller seat configurations. “He took a picture,” she said, referring to the schoolteacher who she named only as “Bob”.
“I can just see the outside of the door plug from the pictures, the white portions. We can’t see anything else but
we’re going to go pick that up and make sure that we begin analyzing it.” She said it was “very, very fortunate” that the incident had not ended in tragedy.
Meanwhile, a man in Portland, Oregon found a smartphone that fell 16,000 feet from the Alaska Airlines flight. The man, who was on the lookout for the door plug after the NTSB had asked the public for help locating it, found something else instead. “I found a phone sitting on the side of the road that had apparently fallen 16,000 feet,” Sean Bates said in a post on social media. “It was in airplane mode with a travel confirmation and baggage claim for Alaska 1282,” Bates said. “So, I had to go call the NTSB.” A few items, reportedly including AirPods and a boy’s shirt, made more dramatic landings after shooting out of the suddenly depressurized cabin. It is not yet clear what went wrong on the flight, but shares in Boeing from falling in pre-market trading on Monday. — AFP