Piece of Alaska Airlines fuselage found in a suburban home in Portland

Reuters Videos

No passengers seated near MAX 9 fuselage failure: NTSB

STORY: Homendy: “We are very, very fortunate here that this didn’t end up in something more tragic.”Those words came from U.S. National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy late Saturday…addressing an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 accident where the cabin panel blew out a day prior, forcing an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.U.S. authorities on Sunday appealed for public help in the search for the missing panel.The panel is likely to have landed somewhere in the western suburbs of Portland, but has not yet been found.Homendy: “No one was seated in 26A and B where that door plug is. The aircraft was around 16,000 feet and only 10 minutes out from the airport when the door blew."Sources told Reuters aerospace supplier Spirit AeroSystems manufactured and initially installed the fuselage part on the brand-new Max 9…but added that Boeing also has a key role in the usual completion process.Because of a complex, two-tier installation system, investigators are expected to examine whether any flaws occurred at Spirit's giant fuselage plant in Wichita, Kansas, or at the Boeing factory outside Seattle.On Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners for safety checks after the emergency landing of the plane that had been in service for just eight weeks.The FAA did not rule out further action as a probe began into the potential structural failure.The jet accident Friday forced pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew on board. Only minor injuries were reported.