The current grounding of the 737 Max 9 in the United States has resulted in investigators scrambling to find key evidence and parts from the affected Alaskan Airlines plane. After an extensive search, the emergency door plug was found in the backyard of a schoolteacher in Portland, Oregon.
Bob Sauer, a science teacher in Portland discovered that the part landed in the trees in his garden, but only discovered the part on Sunday. He theorized that the trees helped to keep the part intact as it fell before the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived to pick it up.
During the pick-up, images were taken of the part and later shared online. In one of the photos, a section of the plug was seen having handwritten inventory information, as well as the note “Made in Malaysia” next to the serial number of the part.
Bob commented that when he first took a look at the fallen fuselage part, he did not see any obvious signs of damage – no kinks or bends sighted.
The Boeing 737 Max family consists of five variants, with each plane consists of over 30,000 parts coming from over 600 different global companies. One of the biggest supplier for the project is currently Spirit AeroSystems, which manufactures the fuselage parts, engine nacelles, pylons, thrust reversers and wing leading edges. The company has manufacturing facilities around the world, including one in Subang Aerotech Park located near Subang Airport.
Speculation is rife online on why the cataloguing was made with permanent markers instead of a different way. Some of the posters on X, formerly known as Twitter, suggested that the part is too big to be printed on.
Spirit Aerosystem did not confirm or deny that the parts are made in Malaysia. In a statement, the company is currently working with NTSB and is supporting the bureau on the investigation. The company will share more information when it is available. As of today, more than 140 of the 737 Max 9 are grounded while operators await directives from the NTSB on how to inspect the airliners.
