Terror and Littering at 16,000 Feet

“I’m like, that’s weird, where did the dogs find a headrest?”

SENT FROM ABOVE: The door plug of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, in Bob Sauer's yard. (National Transportation Safety Board)
By Aaron Mesh

When a panel blew out of the fuselage of a Boeing 737 Max 9 shortly after takeoff from Portland International Airport on Jan. 9, the implications were global.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded the aircraft, and soon alleged that the panel—called a “door plug” because it fills a door frame on the plane—had been improperly attached on multiple Boeing 737s. (No one aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was seriously injured.)

In Portland, the result was more tangible: litter.

The National Transportation Safety Board went on something of a treasure hunt across the metro area, finding bits of aircraft and passengers’ personal belongings that were sucked out of the plane. Local and national media outlets followed close behind, logging the discovery of the door plug, a seat headrest, and two cellphones (one still with battery life, in airplane mode) along U.S. Highway 26 in Washington County.

Bob Sauer, a Catlin Gabel science teacher, became a central character on evening news broadcasts after finding the door plug resting in brambles in his backyard.

His neighbor Diane Flaherty found the headrest on her patio. “I’m like, that’s weird, where did the dogs find a headrest?” she told KGW-TV.

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