Bob Sauer on his spontaneous international fame
By Harper Davis ‘24
NTSB team examining plane door, courtesy of the National Transportation Safety Board via The New York Times.
“I don’t know how those celebrities do it,” said Catlin Gabel School (CGS) Physics Teacher Bob Sauer, reflecting on his brief international spotlight after he found Alaska Flight 1282’s missing door plug in his backyard.
I contacted Sauer on Tuesday, Jan. 9, two days after he discovered the door in his backyard, not just to hear the story, but to see how the spontaneous media attention affected his life.
If you somehow haven’t seen the articles and videos from the New York Times, Oregonian, NBC, ABC, KATU, BBC, and even the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, here’s a recap of what happened on Sunday, Jan. 7.
A friend of Sauer’s had called him after realizing the door had fallen from the airplane around the area of his house. “I was grading and getting ready for the week,” said Sauer, “and I still didn’t feel any urgency to look. I’ll get this done, maybe I’ll [have] to look if I feel like it.”
Sauer finished his work and then went to check outside. “It was very dark outside … I had a new flashlight, it would give me a chance to test that too,” said Sauer.
He then discovered the door from the plane had crashed through the tree in his backyard. Sauer imagined the tree cushioned the impact, comparing it to the animated movie Enchanted. “The animated part, where the giant is trying to catch [Giselle] in the tree, and the tree bends down gradually, it must have been like that,” explained Sauer.
Giselle hanging onto the tree branch, courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.
Sauer went back inside and contacted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and confirmed it was the real door with photo evidence. Later that night, Sauer was referred to as just “Bob” at the NTSB press conference.
The next morning, the NTSB came to pick up the part. They consequently awarded Sauer TSA and NTSB medallions which you may have seen passed around in his classes. After our interview concluded, the NTSB came to speak in one of Sauer’s classes.
The NTSB medallion and patch received by Sauer, courtesy of NBC News.
Bob returned indoors to respond to the “40 or 50 requests” in his email from various media companies. “I did not contact them until after NTSB picked up the part because I didn’t want people trampling around and possibly disturbing any evidence,” said Sauer.
Sauer left his phone off during the day and had to disable the room phone in the classroom because of the potentially incoming calls. “They’ve been calling everybody, they’ve been calling relatives,” said Sauer. Sauer had to enact Ken DuBois as his de facto media manager for the following few days.
Sauer returned home to many reporters, similar to a stereotypical movie scene. “When I got home, there was a huge throng of reporters right in my driveway,” said Sauer, “so I talked to a bunch of them and they came in so close that I kept bumping their microphones with my elbows.”
“[ABC] was a more elaborate production with a set of lights and everything and a sound person, a camera person, and an interviewer. We did that in my backyard, and later NBC came to do the same thing,” described Sauer “That last interview ended at 7:30.”
Needless to say, Sauer had an incredibly busy day. “The NTSB showed up at seven in the morning, so more than twelve hours of pretty much non-stop media attention, and trying to teach too,” said Sauer.
I asked Sauer why he thought the story was fascinating to so many. “I have no idea. What I’ve heard from my relatives … is that it’s the science it’s got woven into it, that I was able to treat it as a physics problem … and at least so far the story has a happy ending that nobody got hurt,” said Sauer.
At the time of our interview, Sauer did not hear from either Alaska Air or Boeing, and to dispel the rumors, he was not granted any miles.
Sauer’s story and subsequent media coverage have gone international. “I got emails this morning from friends of mine in Finland, Germany, and Lithuania. They've all seen it,” said Sauer.
One positive from the whole experience was Sauer getting back in contact with some old friends. “One of the things that I really like about it is I'm hearing from people that I had completely lost touch with,” said Sauer.
Sauer has received numerous emails from other friends and colleagues and hopes to get in contact with many of them.
“I actually got an email from one of my high school friends that I had not seen since high school in Berkeley. He said he was trying to locate me through the internet, and the address he found for me is the address I grew up in, ” shared Sauer.
“I haven't lived there since 1981, and my mother isn't there anymore either, but she still has the same phone number. So he was able to contact her, and she was able to put him in touch with me. He lives in Port Townsend now, so he's closer than he would have been in Berkeley. So I'm going to reach out to him,” said Sauer.
“It’s been an amazing two days. I’m happy if it will be over soon because this is unsustainable for me,” said Sauer, pleasantly surprised but exhausted from all the attention.