‘Refrigerator-sized’ door that flew off Alaska Airlines flight found in yard as 2nd airline spots loose bolts on planes
A LARGE piece of an Alaska Airlines plane that was torn off mid-flight has finally been found after a teacher discovered it in his yard.
Passengers were left terrified when the refrigerator-sized part came off the plane as it traveled from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, on Friday.
“My heart started beating a little faster,” Sauer told The New York Times.
“And I thought, 'There’s no way.'”
The physics teacher believes that the trees acted as airbags and protected the part as it barreled toward the ground.
He added that the door was cushioned by the trees through the physics term called impulse.
“Impulse is what you do to change the momentum of something,” Sauer said.
“You can do it with a big force over a short time, or a smaller force over a longer time.”
Sauer called the National Transportation Safety Board on Sunday and they came to retrieve the door on Monday morning.
The board said investigators were “currently examining the door plug” and that it will go to a lab in Washington, D.C., for further examination.
This figure is up from an initial five first reported by industry publication The Air Current and it's feared the number could rise.
Alaska Airlines said late on Monday that initial reports from its technicians indicated "loose hardware" was visible on some aircraft in the relevant area when it conducted checks of its fleet.
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all Boeing 737 Max 9s with other airlines following the Alaska Airlines incident.
The FAA said that its priority is keeping the public safe at this time and that the planes would remain grounded "until operators complete enhanced inspections which include both left and right cabin door exit plugs, door components, and fasteners."
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"The FAA’s first priority is keeping the flying public safe," the agency said in a statement.
"We have grounded the affected airplanes, and they will remain grounded until the FAA is satisfied that they are safe."