Oregon schoolteacher finds missing Boeing plane part in backyard trees

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examine the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was jettisoned and forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing, at a property where it was recovered in Portland, Oregon, U.S. January 8, 2024. NTSB/Handout via REUTERS.

(Reuters) - Schoolteacher Bob Sauer said he took a flashlight to his tree-filled backyard on Sunday evening on the small chance he might find a plane part that had torn off an Alaska Airlines jet on Friday at an altitude of about 16,000 feet (4,877 m).

U.S. authorities investigating the incident on the Boeing 737 MAX 9 that depressurized the plane, leading to an emergency landing, had asked people in the Cedar Hills suburb of Portland, Oregon to look out for the missing door plug as a vital piece of evidence.