The auto pressurization warning system on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 that lost a door plug shortly after takeoff from Portland went off 3 times within a month, including one day before the accident on Flight 1282.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy provided that information during a press conference Sunday night, the second one since the flight needed to return to PDX on January 5.
The air pressurization warning light went off on December 7, January 3 and January 4. Homendy said the crews reported it each time, the system was tested and reset.
“We have record they were tested and then reset by maintenance personnel,” Homendy said.
The press conference lasted 42 minutes, but a few minutes later Homendy came back with “real time information” that she just received.
Video: ‘The door plug was found by Bob’
“The door plug was found,” she said.
The NTSB on Saturday said the door that blew off Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was likely around Barnes Road near Hwy 217 and the Cedar Hills neighborhood.
She said Bob — whose last name she declined to provide — took a picture of the door plug in his back yard and emailed it to witness@ntsb.gov.
“Thank you, Bob,” she said, and only identified him as “a school teacher in Portland.”
The door plug is yellowish green on one side, white on the other, is 26×48 and weighs 63 pounds.
Earlier she said 2 cell phones were found, one in a backyard and one along the side of the road. One of the cell phones was in airplane mode and open to an Alaska Air baggage claim for Flight 1282.
Homendy said there were 3 babies aboard along with 4 unaccompanied minors. The babies were being held by their caregivers, she said. When the accident happened, the flight attendants made sure the unaccompanied minors had their masks secured and were safe.
“We want to thank the heroic actions of the entire flight crew,” she said.
Cockpit issues
When the “explosive decompression” happened, the cockpit door flew open immediately, hit the lavatory door, which caused the lavatory door to become stuck. But no one in there, she said.
Communication became a serious issue and the flight attendants said it was hard to get information from the flight deck.
The scene was described as “chaos,” “very loud” and “very violent.”
When investigators checked the cockpit voice recorder, there was nothing on it. That’s because, Homendy said, a circuit breaker was not pulled and the CVR — which only stores 2 hours of information — kept recording.
The NTSB chair said they are lobbying the FAA to make CVRs capture 25 hours of information.
She added there is no structural damage to the aircraft itself. The damage on the inside has no bearing on the structural integrity of the aircraft, she said.
Homendy said the investigation will not wrap up in days. Rather, she said, it may take weeks.
Alaska Airlines again grounded all of its Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners on Sunday after federal officials indicated further maintenance might be required to assure that another inflight blowout like the one that damaged one of its planes doesn’t happen again.
The airline had returned 18 of its 65 737 Max 9 aircraft to service Saturday following inspections that came less than 24 hours after a portion of one plane’s fuselage blew out three miles above Oregon on Friday night. The depressurized plane returned safely to Portland International Airport with no serious injuries.
The airline said in a statement that the decision was made after receiving a notice from the Federal Aviation Administration that additional work might be needed. Other versions of the 737 are not affected.
KTLA’s sister station KOIN reports.
