Safety officials working for the United States government have recovered the door panel that was ripped off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane during a flight on Friday.

According to Reuters.com, the door plug blew off as Alaska Flight 1282 flew from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, with six crew members and 171 passengers onboard, depressurizing the cabin and forcing the cockpit door open.

The plane¡¯s pilots called for an emergency landing and no injuries were reported.

The ripped-off door panel was discovered Sunday by a Portland school teacher who reportedly found it in his backyard. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy said the agency was relieved it found the piece, calling it a ¡°key missing component¡± in the investigation.

¡°Our structures team will want to look at everything on the door - all of the components on the door to see, to look at, witness marks, to look at any paint transfer, what shape the door was in when found. That can tell them a lot about what occurred,¡± Homendy told Reuters.

As a result of the terrifying incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded 171 Boeing MAX 9 planes with the same panel, which weighs about 60 pounds and covers an unused exit door.

In total, 144 of the 171 impacted Boeing planes were operating in the U.S., with Alaska and United Airlines boasting the largest fleets. To return to service, the FAA and Boeing have to agree to a criteria for safety inspections before the work can begin.

To find out which airlines are impacted, whether your flight will be canceled, and if this situation is related to the Boeing MAX issues from recent years, check out TravelPulse¡¯s inside look at how the incident impacts travelers.?

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