Blowing the Doors Off

“After the end of a news conference in which National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy laid out the probe’s status, she returned to give a piece of positive news: ‘I’m excited to announce that we found the door plug.'” It really wasn’t We who found it. It was Bob, the Oregon schoolteacher. And he didn’t have to look all that far. Missing door plug that detached from Alaska Airlines plane found in Oregon teacher’s backyard.

+ It’s amazing that no one was killed when the door of a Boeing 737 Max 9 flew off mid-flight. It’s also amazing that Alaska Airlines was happy to keep flying the planes until the FAA stepped in and grounded them. And that’s all the more amazing because the plane model had flashed warning signs on three previous flights and was already restricted from long flights over water. Alaska Airlines plane had warnings days before mid-air blowout.

+ An iPhone that was sucked out of the plane and dropped 16,000 feet was found. It was still working, and unlike the airplane, it was still in airplane mode.