Airplane door found in Minnesota forest, 10 years after falling to earth

COON RAPIDS, Minn. (KMSP) - It wasn't quite what Galen Peterson was hoping to see while hunting near his cabin in Brainerd, Minn., but it was pretty hard to miss.

Calling for further investigation was a four- to five-foot airplane door, wedged in between two trees, dirty from what seemed like years of sitting in northern Minnesota's harsh climate.

So Peterson did what any person in his situation would do--he called someone at the airport, who called Boeing, who told him that, sure enough, the door had been missing since 2002--when it fell off a 747 and hurtled to earth, resting for more than 10 years in that spot.

"I think there are a couple 747s that did go down, and they don't know why," he said. "That's what haunts me. If this were to hit the tail of that big plane I think it would be going down."

But his investigation came to a fast and surprising ending when Boeing basically told him to do whatever he wanted with the door, saying they had no interest in seeing it. 

He's been told numerous times to put it on Craigslist or Ebay, but Peterson just can't bring himself to part ways with the 70 pound hunk of metal. 

So for right now, it will stay put.