Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9: Chunk of door ripped out during flight blowout found in teacher's back garden

A chunk of the door that was ripped off the Alaska Airlines flight shortly after take-off has been found in the back garden of a school teacher, named only as Bob. Pilots of the plane had to emergency land the aircraft on Friday (5 January) after a hole ripped into the side of the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane.

The plane was flying 171 passengers from Portland in Oregon, to Ontario in California. No-one was injured, and the plane landed safely back in Portland. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the door plug, where the hole was made, has now been recovered by a school teacher from Cedar Hills in Portland.

According to NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy the part is a "key missing component". The incident happened after pilots reported pressurisation warning lights on three earlier flights on the same plane model - one happened in December and two in January. Ms Homendy said it was not clear if there is any connection between those incidents and the incident on Friday.

The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) on the flight had no data as it was not retrieved within two hours. Ms Homendy said: "It's a very chaotic event, the circuit breaker for the CVR was not pulled, the maintenance team went out to get it, but it was right at about the two-hour mark. If that communication is not recorded, that is unfortunately a loss for us... that information is key not just for our investigation but for improving aviation safety."

In response to the incident, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes which has caused cancellations for passengers. Alaska Airlines said it cancelled 170 flights on Sunday (7 January) and a further 60 today (Monday 8 January). More cancellations are expected this week with other airlines also affected.

British regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said there are no registered Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in the UK and therefore the impact would be "minimal". London Heathrow Airport said there was no impact on flights. A CAA spokesman said: "We have written to all non-UK and foreign permit carriers to ask for confirmation that inspections have been undertaken prior to any operation into UK airspace.”