US teacher finds part of Alaska Airlines plane panel in yard

AFP | Washington                                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A teacher in Oregon has found part of an Alaska Airlines airplane panel that blew out midflight in his backyard, officials said, as shares in the beleaguered manufacturer Boeing began falling in pre-market trading yesterday after the near-disaster.

Dozens of flights have been canceled around the world as airline and safety bodies ground some versions of Boeing’s 737 MAX 9 jet pending inspections after the emergency, which miraculously saw no major injuries.

On Friday, Alaska Flight 1282 departed from Portland International Airport and was gaining altitude when the cabin crew reported a “pressurization issue”, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with the plane quickly returning to Portland. Video images of the incident, which showed a gaping hole in the side of the plane, air rushing through the cabin, oxygen masks dangling and travelers observing city lights below them through the opening, were seen around the world.

“I am excited to announce we have found the door plug,” National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy said at a press briefing. A door plug is a cover panel used to fill an unneeded emergency exit in planes with smaller seat configurations. “He took a picture,” she said, referring to the school teacher who she named only as “Bob.”

“I can just see the outside of the door plug from the pictures, the white portions. We can’t see anything else but we’re going to go pick that up and make sure that we begin analyzing it.” She said it was “very, very fortunate” that the incident had not ended in tragedy. Passenger Kyle Rinker told CNN the incident occurred soon after takeoff.

“It was really abrupt. Just got to altitude, and the window/ wall just popped off,” he told the broadcaster. The NTSB said no one was occupying the two seats nearest the panel, but The Oregonian newspaper quoted passengers as saying a young boy seated in the row had his shirt ripped off by the sudden decompression, injuring him slightly.