Hole found in plane that took off from Miami

AP/YahooNews ^ | 10/29/10 | DAVID KOENIG

[Kartographer]

A 1-foot-by-2-foot hole tore open in the fuselage of a commercial airliner that suddenly lost cabin pressure shortly after taking off from Miami, authorities said.

A man aboard American Airlines Flight 1640 said passengers panicked when the Boston-bound flight lost cabin pressure Tuesday night.

"It was pretty chaotic and confusing. It just was kind of surreal. We kind of looked at each other when the masks came from the ceiling and thought this is it," said Edward Croce, 34, of Braintree, Mass.

Croce tried to send a goodbye text message to his son back home, but his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

The crew declared an emergency, and the pilot returned the plane safely to Miami. The Boeing 757 carried 154 passengers and six crew members.

"We were shaken up and everyone was in shock," Croce said, who said the airline didn't provide medical attention for passengers once they were on the ground.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Friday that an inspection of the plane revealed a hole in the upper part of the fuselage near a cabin door toward the front of the plane.

[Tunehead54]

If coverage/signal is iffy/intermittent - send a text - it just takes a second of good signal to go through whereas a voice connection has lots more requirements to get through ... just so you know ... ;-)

[Jeff Chandler]

Here is a photo of the hole:

[crusty old prospector]

But I thought we were supposed to keep our cell phones off while in flight as it might interrupt radio traffic in the cockpit? {;-}

[RobRoy]

Whatever caused it, it would almost certainly sound like what most people would describe as an explosion.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action." -- Ian Fleming

[B4Ranch]

You’re thinking of the one that landed at Honolulu, Hawaii. Only one stewardess was lost.

[Erasmus]

c) And everybody assuming crash positions....

[Lexinom]

If it was on the "upper part of the fuselage" near a door, how in tarnation could anyone on the ground miss it prior to departure?

[AngelesCrestHighway]

“Here’s the hole!”......I love Free Republic!!!....L.O.L.!

[AngelesCrestHighway]

[Erasmus]

Benny Hill once stated this philosphy:

“They say that the chances of someone putting a bomb on my plane are about one in a million. They also say that the chances of there being two bombs on my plane are a one in a trillion. So to be safe, I always try to carry a bomb onto my plane.”

[Dr. Eckleburg]

LOLOL

[Kartographer]

That looks pretty ugly! I’d have a proctologist look at that as soon as I could if I was you.

[1000 silverlings]

shoe bomb, where’s the big Sis person

[Kenny Bunk]

That's an old foto. DNose has had some nicely subtle plastic surgery to his leading feature.

No More Jimmy Durante shtick for him!

[Yaelle]

ROFL - seriously rolling!!!!

[skookum55]

That’s what we get for outlawing smoking on commercial flights. Tobacco smoke was an excellent leak detector as it stained the outer surface of the fuselage.

[The Comedian]

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[Irish Eyes]

Airline maintenance engineers have said that for years. The nicotine would stain all the weak points making them much easier to see AND repair.

There for I could say that smoking can save lives.
;)

[PapaBear3625]

On my phone, it has text message templates. I’ve got “I love you” as one of them. It saves time.