KUALA LUMPUR: A 'Made in Malaysia' inscription on the blown-off door plug of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 may leave the country as a focal point in yet another aviation incident investigation.
In a report by the Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) news portal, school teacher Bob Sauer recounted how he had found the door plug that had torn off from an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft on Jan 5.
It was learnt that the door had torn off from an altitude of about 16,000 feet (4,877 m), falling on the school teacher's tree-filled backyard near the suburb that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had identified as its possible landing spot.
What is more intriguing in the discovery by Sauer was how the serial number and additional manufacturing details of the door plug which seemed to be handwritten with a permanent marker inscribed 'Made in Malaysia'.
"That's an interesting way of doing inventory control," he told OPB.
According to the OPB report, Boeing said they could not address the inscriptions because of the active investigation by the NTSB.
The New Straits Times has since reached out to the Transport Ministry on behalf of Malaysian authorities and the NTSB for clarifications on the matter.
Malaysia, through its national flag carrier, Malaysia Airlines currently operates three Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft and expecting another six this year.
It is a variant of the Boeing 737 MAX family of airliners.
Earlier, the Alaska Airlines flight with 177 people onboard made an emergency landing in the US state of Oregon on Jan 5 following a door plug blow-out.
The flight took off from Portland International Airport at around 5.00 pm (0100 GMT Saturday) before returning safely after the crew reported a pressurisation issue.