A missing door plug that could be key to the investigation into what caused it to detach from a plane midflight Friday has been found in the backyard of a Portland, Oregon-area resident.
A teacher called Bob has found a door plug – which was ripped off a plane while it was in the air – in his own garden. Authorities say a crucial recording from the Alaska Airlines flight has been lost, while cancellations are piling up for passengers with trips on this model of plane.
After the end of a news conference in which National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy laid out the probe’s status, she returned to give a piece of positive news: “I’m excited to announce that we found the door plug,” she said.
Identifying the resident who sent two photos of the item to the NTSB only as Bob, a schoolteacher, she said, “Thank you, Bob.”
“We’re going to go pick that up and make sure that we begin analyzing it,” Homendy said.
