AN iPhone has been found in perfect condition after being sucked from the cabin of an Alaska airlines Boeing 737 and falling 16,000ft.
The airline has axed 200 flights while it investigates the terrifying mid-air blowout that forced the jet to make an emergency landing on Friday.
Game designer Seanathan Bates discovered the "perfectly in tact" iPhone on the side of a road near Portland.
His photos posted on X/Twitter show that it was still in airplane mode with its screen open on an email of a baggage receipt for Alaska Airlines.
Two mobile phones in total have been found, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said.
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It followed a schoolteacher's discovery of the missing door plug that blew off mid-flight soon after the plane took off from Portland on Friday.
Bob found the vital piece of the Boeing 737 Max 9 fuselage in his garden on Sunday.
The NTSB hopes the piece will now provide vital clues as to why the door was torn off the plane.
Friday's horror incident led to more than 200 Alaska Airline flights being cancelled while inspections are carried out.
The airline said cancellations would continue through the first half of the week.
On Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft that were equipped with the same door panel.
Boeing's CEO is also set to is hold a company-wide safety meeting on Tuesday.
Investigators are also preparing to interview the flight crew.
NTSB said that the cockpit voice recorder from the jet had been overwritten by the time it was recovered.
“It’s a very chaotic event. The circuit breaker for the CVR (cockpit voice recorder) was not pulled. The maintenance team went out to get it, but it was right at about the two-hour mark,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.
Boeing passenger jet moments from crashing after plunging 1,400ft in seconds
The Alaska Airlines flight, which left Portland, Oregon for Ontario, California, at 4.40pm on Friday was plunged into chaos less than an hour into its journey.
Stunned passengers described seeing a large section of the plane blown out mid-air with dramatic pictures of the aftermath showing a gaping hole in its side.
One passenger told Fox News affiliate KPTV a child had to be held in his seat by his mum as people lost their phones as they were sucked out of the plane.
Another child closest to the damage lost his shirt due to the violent depressurisation.
Shocking footage on TikTok captured the chaos, showing passengers using emergency oxygen masks as the plane was still in the air.
Part of the missing plane was seen in the video with the night sky visible just a few feet from where people were sitting.
Passenger Nicholas Hoch said horrified passengers screamed "there's a f*****g hole" amid the chaos.
Hoch, who sat ten rows ahead of the hole, heard a "big boom" before oxygen masks dropped instantly in front of him.
"That was followed instantaneously by a rapid depressurisation of the cabin that consisted of moisture and fluid - almost like a cloud rushing from the front of the plane to the back," he told Sky News.
He added: "A few people stood up on the flight and were yelling some obscenities - shouting 'there's an f*****g hole'."
While the plane "fluttered" and the lights "flickered", the frightened passengers were left in the dark about the impending emergency landing, he said.
Hoch said other people around him were "mostly calm" but the whole atmosphere on board felt "eerie".
His hat flew off and the people in front of him had their hair "pushed back".
Chilling air traffic control audio revealed the moment staff reported an emergency.
"Yes, we are an emergency," a member of staff said.
"We are depressurised, we do need to return back to... we have 177 passengers."
Alaska Airlines said crew on board were "trained and prepared" to deal with the situation and that the incident was extremely rare.
The Boeing 737 Maxs are the most commonly used aircraft for commercial flights in the world - with more than 1,160 in active use.
Back in 2019, the crisis-hit jets sparked safety fears after two fatal air crashes and were eventually grounded across EU airspace.
The following year debris was also found in the fuel tanks of planes kept in storage - with the head of Boeing's 737 programme telling employees the discovery was "absolutely unacceptable".
The planes were eventually allowed to take off in late 2020 after upgrades were made to their jets.
And Friday's incident happened after pilots reported pressurisation warning lights on three earlier flights of the same model - one in December and two in January.
Boeing President and CEO David Calhoun is holding a meeting at the company's 737 Max factory in Washington on Tuesday "focused on safety".
“It is critical for us to work transparently with our customers and regulators to understand and address the causes of the event and to ensure they don’t happen again,” Calhoun said in an email.
