Door ‘plug’ blown off in mid-air explosion on SoCal-bound flight found

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have located a door “plug” that suddenly blew out of a SoCal-bound Alaska Airlines flight during what officials called an explosive mid-air decompression event over the weekend.  

Alaska Flight 1282 departed Portland, Oregon on Jan. 5 around 5 p.m. and was airborne for about 20 minutes when passengers reported hearing a “loud boom” that led a portion of the jetliner’s fuselage coming off the plane. 

Teams with the NTSB had been searching for the door plug, which weighs an estimated 63 pounds, until Sunday when it was discovered in the backyard of a home not far from where the plane took off at PDX. 

“It was kind of caught in the trees at the time,” said Bob Sauer, who found the plane part in his yard. “They pulled it out and laid it out on the grass and even though it was raining this morning, they were up close and shining their lights on it and taking pictures and starting to try and figure out what had happened.”  

The NTSB has since interviewed the six members of the flight crew and is documenting the condition of the plane, including passenger seats that were ripped apart and the cockpit door that was blown open. 

Specialists in Washington D.C. will closely examine the door plug in a lab.  

“Our structures team will want to look at everything on the door, all of the components on the door,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said at a press briefing Sunday night.

As other airlines complete mandatory inspections of their fleet of Boeing 737 Max 9 jets, United Airlines today announced they had found some issues in their Max 9 aircraft.  

“We have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug, for example, bolts that needed additional tightening,” a United spokesperson said. 

Though the pilot was able to land the plane safely and no one was seriously injured during the dramatic mid-air incident, the fallout has caused hundreds of flight cancellations across the country, including at L.A. airports.  

“There was a message from these guys at 4:30 in the morning that our flight at 8 o’clock was canceled,” a passenger on his way to Costa Rica, who was only identified as Carlo, said.  

One obstacle to the Alaska Air investigation is the cockpit voice recorder, also known as the CVR. Investigators are unable to use the CVR because it routinely erases every two hours, as it did in this case. 

Now, the NTSB Chair is urging the Federal Aviation Administration to preserve the cockpit recordings for much longer.  

“Not just in new aircraft, but retrofitting aircraft,” Homendy said at an NTSB briefing. “If FAA won’t do it, we hope Congress will take action.”  

All 737 Max 9 aircraft in the United States have been grounded, which continues to cause havoc for flyers.  

For those with trips planned this week, especially those flying Alaska or United Airlines, experts suggest checking with your carrier to see what kind of aircraft you’re supposed to be on.