NTSB displays door plug that blew out from Alaska Airlines flight

The National Transportation Safety Board has allowed the media to see the actual door plug that blew out during an Alaska Airlines Flight in January.

The look behind the curtain at the NTSB lab was given to members of the media a week before a hearing is scheduled to look into the cause of the incident on Flight 1282, Gray DC reported.

The investigative hearing is scheduled to last two days next week.

The door plug was found in the backyard of a home near Portland, Oregon after it blew off the flight between Portland and Ontario International Airport in California.

A plug is used to fill holes that are for extra doors when a plane doesn’t have enough seats to require additional emergency evacuation exits, The Associated Press reported. They look like normal windows from inside the plane.

They only are opened during maintenance or inspections. The door plug in question was installed on the Boeing 737 Max at a Spirit AeroSystems plant in Kansas but was removed by Boeing to repair damaged rivets, the AP reported.

The NTSB had determined that four bolts were missing when it was reinstalled, Gray DC reported.

Photos: NTSB displays door plug that blew out from Alaska Airlines flight

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Boeing Alaska Airlines The door plug from the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282's Boeing 737-9 MAX airplane is shown at the National Transportation Safety Board laboratory, in Washington, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

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