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PORTLAND, Oregon - A video emerged Monday morning showing federal workers inspecting what looks like the plug door of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on the lawn of a suburban yard outside Portland.
A shaky video of someone driving by the yard shows what looks like a mostly intact door on grass by a driveway. A photo posted to Facebook shows a similar scene.
National Transportation Safety Board officials said Sunday that the door had been found in the backyard of a Portland schoolteacher identified only as “Bob.” The safety board announced earlier that radar data showed the door plug appeared to have fallen near Southwest Barnes Road and Oregon 217 in the Cedar Hills neighborhood of Beaverton.
The piece of fuselage blew off the Boeing 737-9 Max at about 16,000 feet on Friday evening shortly after the plane took off from Portland International Airport, leaving a gaping hole in the side as terrified passengers grabbed air masks and wind whipped through cabin.
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“Bob” took two photographs of the door plug and sent them to the email that the safety board disseminated to ask for tips, photos and videos connected to the accident. The door plug is critical for the agency’s investigation to understand precisely why the chunk of fuselage disconnected from the plane minutes after takeoff.
[Boeing jetliner that suffered inflight blowout was restricted amid concerns over warning light]
Two other people reported findings cellphones that had apparently fallen from the airplane, according to " NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. One fell in someone’s backyard and one that was found by the side of a road.
Homendy has declined to speculate about what may have caused the door plug to rip from the newly manufactured airplane, which had been delivered to Alaska Airlines on Oct. 31. On three occasions a light indicating pressurization problems had turned on, most recently Jan. 4 — the day before the accident, Homendy said.
The plane had 171 passengers, not including crew members, and 178 passenger seats. No one was seriously injured.
This developing story and will be updated.