A modern 737 has A / P1 checks every 500 hours. The plane in question has completed a total of 145 flights so it's quite possible it hadn't even reached the 50

A modern 737 has A / P1 checks every 500 hours. The plane in question has completed a total of 145 flights so it's quite possible it hadn't even reached the 500 hour threshold yet. While emergency equipment like slides and doors are typically inspected with an "A" check, this wasn't an emergency door that failed. What failed was a permanently installed panel. To inspect it you'd have to pull off interior panels, something that doesn't typically happen on a 737 until a C check (roughly every couple of years or 5,000 hours). So yeah. What maintenance on a nearly brand new plane would require pulling the interior apart and disturbing the emergency exit plug? This wasn't a maintenance issue. Edit: And, no, this plane was never at the Oklahoma City MRO. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n704al#3374196f https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n704al#3374196f