*A door plug that reportedly detached from an Alaska Airlines plane midflight Friday, causing a section of the aircraft to blow out, has been found in Portland, Oregon.
Alaska Airlines canceled 230 flights after a midflight blowout onboard Alaska Airlines Flt 1282 on Friday. We reported earlier via CNN that part of the fuselage blew off shortly after takeoff. A boy’s shirt was sucked off his torso and out through the hole, passengers reported, leaving the mother holding the boy.
“It tore off her son’s shirt!” a man can be heard saying on video posted to Twitter by passenger Stephanie King.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy announced at a news conference Sunday that the missing door plug was found in the backyard of a home in Portland.
“I’m excited to announce that we found the door plug,” Homendy said.
She thanked the resident who sent photos of the door plug to the NTSB, identifying him only as a schoolteacher named Bob.
“We’re going to go pick that up and make sure that we begin analyzing it,” Homendy added.
The flight was traveling from Portland to Ontario, California, and reached 16,000 feet at about 5:07 p.m. when the blowout occurred, according to FlightAware. Per CNN, the plane landed safely about 20 minutes later back at the airport, with no serious injuries among the 171 passengers and six crew members. One person was taken to a hospital.
The NTSB investigation into the event was hampered by the data loss on the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, as the record was inadvertently taped over.
“That is unfortunately a loss for us,” Homendy said during a news conference Sunday night. “Because that information is key, not just for our investigation, but for improving aviation safety.”
