Posted on 10/29/2010 10:22:52 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Garak is my favorite recurring character from DS9.
I believe in coincidences, too. And I do trust them, or at the very least I am open to trusting them.
I prefer Auric Goldfinger's insight in Ian Fleming's 'Goldfinger.' "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."
I was getting on a flight one time and would have caused an incident if I didn’t know what a stop drill on a crack was. The crack was right over the door but it looked like I was the only one who noticed. It seems that they would want to do more than a temporary fix on an area passengers can see.
Forgot to mention what stop drilling is. Here’s a good overview.
http://www.mechanicsupport.com/metal_fatigue_crack.html
That's what it did. First, they had to get clearance to drop altitude (especially that much of an altitude drop). Second, the oxygen masks are there for that period before they get clearance.
They had no trouble flying the plane or landing it.
Keep the seat belt on at all times and hope the cabin doesn't explode.
That’s interesting. I’m always keen to glean new knowledge; thank you! It’s logical from a mechanical standpoint, and also logical that this would not be in any wise considered a permanent fix.
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