iPhone survives plunge from Alaska Airlines flight that made emergency landing, found in residential neighborhood

PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV/Gray News) – Some residents of Beaverton, Oregon, discovered some fallen debris from an Alaska Airline jet plane that had to make an emergency landing in Portland Friday night.

“This is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened on this street, as far as I know,” said Bob Sauer, a physics teacher at Catlin Gable School.

He looked in his backyard for fallen debris as the National Transportation Safety Board was searching the neighborhood and saw something gleaming.

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s curious.’ So, I went back to look at it and it turned out to be the door,” Sauer said. “I knew the moment I saw it what it was, I hadn’t expected to find it back there.”

Sean Bates also heard the call from the NTSB for the public to help search for debris in the area and found an iPhone as he walked along the road near Sunset Transit Center on Sunday.

“I just took a walk around, keeping my eyes open to find anything that might be related to seat cushion, Sky mall, evacuation card, something like that, and then saw a phone sitting on the side of the road,” he said.

“I reached into the bush and grabbed it because it was sitting face up in the bush, and when I picked it up, it was unlocked in airplane mode, still had half a battery and when I opened the screen it had a baggage claim for Alaska.”

He said since that area has so many wide-open spaces where things could’ve fallen far out of sight, this was a real surprise. It was only about a mile from where the door plug and a headrest were found.

Residents in the area who found items turned them into the NTSB and said they were grateful the incident didn’t cause more damage or injuries.

Certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft are now grounded nationwide.

Earlier Monday, United Airlines confirmed it found the loose bolts on an undisclosed number of its 737 MAX 9 aircraft.

The carrier is performing FAA-mandated inspections following Friday’s incident.

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