The Alaska Airlines plane that lost a door mid-flight and led to an emergency landing has been banned from long-distance journeys over water after a cabin pressure warning light illuminated on three previous flights.
The missing door has now been found after a Portland Public Schools teacher discovered the “plug” in his backyard in Cedar Hills on Sunday evening.
The Boeing 737 MAX 9's cockpit voice recorder was also found to have been overwritten by the time investigators recovered it, as it had not been retrieved within two hours, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed.
The Seattle-based airline has since announced the cancellation of 170 flights on Sunday evening and another 60 on Monday so that the US Federal Aviation Administration can conduct inspections on the planes.
Federal investigators originally asked for the public's help in finding the missing plug door on Flight 1282 that was scheduled to fly from Portland International Airport to Ontario International in California on fridaynight.
Just after 5 p.m., the door on the left side of the plane tore loose at 16,000 feet as terrified passengers contacted their loved ones and said what they thought would be their final farewells.
Alaska Flight 1282 was leaving Portland just after 5 p.m. Friday when a window blew out at 16,000 feet and federal investigators are now trying to locate the missing piece
The flight that was scheduled to arrive at Ontario International in California returned Friday evening after the plug door came loose
Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board said the plug door is located around Barnes Road near I-217 in the Cedar Hills, Oregon area.
Cockpit voice recorders are found on all aircraft and are there to capture the voices of the flight crew and all sounds in the cockpit.
According to the NTSB website, the device can record for up to 25 hours and resets every two hours. Because it was not reset in time, it is unknown what was said at the time of the emergency.
It has also been reported that the plane's 'auto-pressurization' light came on on three previous flights and it was banned from flying.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators have praised the miracle that allowed the 171 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 737-9 Max to survive.
The incident led to the grounding of Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft while an investigation is underway.
“Based on radar data, we believe the door is located around Barnes Road, near I-217 in the Cedar Hills neighborhood,” said NTSB Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy. “If you find that, please contact your local police.”
Cedar Hills is located in Washington County, Oregon, about seven miles west of Portland.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office sent a message to At this time we have not been asked to coordinate a specific search and have not received any calls from the public regarding possible debris found.”
“We will be looking at the entire chain of events, from production to putting this plug into service, to what happened to the history of this particular aircraft in flight and in service from its inception to where we are today.” , Homendy said. NBC News.
A photo shows the blown-out area. It is offered as a door on the plane. Alaska chose not to take this option – even though the frame of the future door was completely torn out due to the hull failure
One passenger, Emma Vu, took to TikTok after surviving the horror flight that was only in the air for 20 minutes
Sunday was the first day that investigators fully investigated the bizarre event that left one person with non-life-threatening injuries and forced Alaskan Airlines to ground dozens of Boeing 737-9 MAX jets for urgent safety checks.
Several other airlines have also made the decision to ground planes of that model as critics have pointed to other fatal crashes and system failures involving this type of jet in recent years.
The catastrophic failure depressurized the cabin, with the force of the air rushing in tearing the shirt of a young boy whose mother was holding him. Passengers also watched as their phones were sucked into the night sky.
Toys, phones and clothes were also sucked into the atmosphere through the gaping hole and luckily no one was sitting in the two chairs right next to the now missing door.
Terrifying images showed airmen looking through the giant hole to the left of the missing piece of the plane at the twinkling lights of Portland below in the eerily quiet cabin.
Passengers reported hearing a “very loud bang” before a “deadly” silence fell over the cabin as the plane made its emergency landing in Portland about 40 minutes later.
One passenger, Emma Vu, took to TikTok after surviving the horror flight that was only 20 minutes in the air.
Vu sent a text message to her family saying 'I don't want to die' and revealed how scared she was at the time.
She revealed her panicked text messages to her family, which read: “The masks are coming down; I'm so scared right now; Please pray for me; Please, I don't want to die.'
Vu said she was asleep when the devastating safety malfunction came out of nowhere, when she “felt the whole plane fall.”
“The masks are falling and people are screaming,” she continued, alongside a tearful selfie she took in the moment she feared could be her last.
“I'm so grateful for the ladies who sat next to me… they were so sweet to calm me down, and the flight attendants gave oxygen tanks to those who needed it more,” she said.
Through audio from the cockpit, the pilot could be heard calling for emergency assistance over the radio, saying, “Portland approach, Alaska 1282 emergency!” The aircraft now levels 12,000 in a left turn towards three four zero.
Oxygen masks dangle from the ceiling of the plane as the dark night is seen from inside the plane from the giant gaping hole left behind
Through audio from the cockpit, the pilot could be heard radioing for emergency assistance: “Portland approach, Alaska 1282 emergency!” The aircraft now levels 12,000 in a left turn towards three four zero.
'We need a detour. We have declared a state of emergency. We are pressureless. We have 177 passengers on board and a seal is…18,900' you hear the pilot explain.
The back of the seat at 26A, which was directly next to the door, has completely ripped off.
The headrests of seats 25A and 26A were also torn off as items of clothing were scattered in the area, Homendy said.
“The video looks very peaceful, but I'm sure it was completely chaotic and very loud,” she said.
She went on to say that if the plane's door had come loose before it reached cruising altitude and passengers were allowed to remove their seat belts, the outcome would have been much worse.
Passenger Nick Hoch, 33, told CNN he was sitting on the left side just a few rows from where the piece came loose when “mist or cloud” whizzed past him and hit his face.
“There were people much closer that I talked to who lost the AirPods from their ears,” Hoch said.
A passenger wearing an oxygen mask looks back in distress as 171 passengers were left terrified after part of the plane flew away in mid-air
After the case, Alaskan Airlines decided to ground dozens of Boeing 737-9 MAX jets for urgent safety checks
The plug door is used as an emergency exit when the aircraft is configured to carry more passengers, but is locked and invisible from the inside in the configuration used by Alaska.
Oxygen is needed in emergency situations above 3,000 meters to prevent hypoxia – lack of oxygen – which can cause dizziness, loss of consciousness and permanent brain damage.
Data from FlightAware and the Federal Aviation Administration show that the aircraft involved in the incident has been in service for about three months and has flown approximately 150 times since October 2023.
Alaska Airlines said 18 of the Boeing 737-9 Max planes were inspected and returned Saturday, but were soon returned and will be removed “until details of potential additional maintenance work are confirmed by the FAA.”