American airplane forced to land by rupture in fuselage
Source: Agencies |
April 3, 2011, Sunday
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UNITED States federal officials said a "fuselage rupture" forced a Southwest Airlines flight to make an emergency landing on Friday in an Arizona desert city, and passengers described a large hole at the top of the plane.
The cause of the hole was not immediately known.
"It's at the top of the plane, right up above where you store your luggage," passenger Brenda Reese said. "The panel's not completely off. It's like ripped down, but you can see completely outside. When you look up through the panel, you can see the sky."
Reese said the plane had just left Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for Sacramento, California, when she awoke after hearing a "gunshot-like sound." She said oxygen masks then dropped for passengers and flight attendants as the plane dove.
Terrorism was not suspected because an FBI spokesman in Sacramento, Steve Dupre, said "it appears to be a mechanical issue."
The plane, which was carrying 118 people, landed at a military base in Yuma without any injuries reported, according to the airline. Reese said a flight attendant fell and injured his nose, and said some people "were passing out because they weren't getting the oxygen."
The National Transportation Safety Board said an "in-flight fuselage rupture" led to the sudden descent and drop in cabin pressure aboard the Boeing 737.
Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Los Angeles, said the pilot "made a rapid, controlled descent from 11,000 meters to 3,350 meters altitude after the incident occurred."
"It dropped pretty quick," said Reese, who provided mobile phone photographs of the cabin damage. The pictures showed a panel hanging open in a section above the plane's middle aisle, with a hole of about 1.8 meters long.
Christine Ziegler, a 44-year-old project manager from Sacramento, watched as a crew member and a fellow passenger nearby fainted, hitting their heads on the seats in front of them.
Larry Downey, who was seated directly below the hole when it opened, told Phoenix TV station KPNX that "it was pandemonium."
"You could look out and see blue sky," he said.
Julie O'Donnell, an aviation safety spokeswoman for Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes, confirmed there was "a hole in the fuselage and a depressurization event" but declined to speculate on what caused the incident.
The cause of the hole was not immediately known.
"It's at the top of the plane, right up above where you store your luggage," passenger Brenda Reese said. "The panel's not completely off. It's like ripped down, but you can see completely outside. When you look up through the panel, you can see the sky."
Reese said the plane had just left Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for Sacramento, California, when she awoke after hearing a "gunshot-like sound." She said oxygen masks then dropped for passengers and flight attendants as the plane dove.
Terrorism was not suspected because an FBI spokesman in Sacramento, Steve Dupre, said "it appears to be a mechanical issue."
The plane, which was carrying 118 people, landed at a military base in Yuma without any injuries reported, according to the airline. Reese said a flight attendant fell and injured his nose, and said some people "were passing out because they weren't getting the oxygen."
The National Transportation Safety Board said an "in-flight fuselage rupture" led to the sudden descent and drop in cabin pressure aboard the Boeing 737.
Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Los Angeles, said the pilot "made a rapid, controlled descent from 11,000 meters to 3,350 meters altitude after the incident occurred."
"It dropped pretty quick," said Reese, who provided mobile phone photographs of the cabin damage. The pictures showed a panel hanging open in a section above the plane's middle aisle, with a hole of about 1.8 meters long.
Christine Ziegler, a 44-year-old project manager from Sacramento, watched as a crew member and a fellow passenger nearby fainted, hitting their heads on the seats in front of them.
Larry Downey, who was seated directly below the hole when it opened, told Phoenix TV station KPNX that "it was pandemonium."
"You could look out and see blue sky," he said.
Julie O'Donnell, an aviation safety spokeswoman for Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes, confirmed there was "a hole in the fuselage and a depressurization event" but declined to speculate on what caused the incident.
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