http://twitpic.com/4fv02d
Posted on 04/01/2011 6:05:58 PM PDT by RummyChick
A commercial flight from Phoenix to Sacramento this afternoon had to be diverted to an airport in Yuma due to rapid cabin decompression that may have been caused by a hole in the jet’s fuselage.
The Southwest flight landed safely at 4:07 p.m. at the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station/International Airport.
One of the passengers told CBS13 about the frightening emergency.
“They had just taken drink orders when I heard a huge sound and oxygen masks came down and we started making a rapid decent. They said we’d be making an emergency landing,” said Cindy. “There was a hold in the fuselage about three feet long. You could see the insulation and the wiring. You could see a tear the length of one of the ceiling panels. bluest muse with mask Sacramento Bound Flight Makes Emergency Landing In Yuma, Arizona
A reported passenger, Shawna MalviniRedden, posted this photo to her Twitter account.
A Sacramento resident said her husband was on the flight, and said she received a text from him that read: “Plane going down. Love you”. She heard from her husband a few minutes later after the plane landed safely. The woman’s husband said there was an explosion, or a hole in the plane.
Another passenger, Shawna MalviniRedden, tweeted: “Happy to be alive. Still feel sick.6 foot hole in the skin of the plane five rows behind me. Unbelievable.” She also posted this message: “texted my husband ‘ I love you ‘ from the sky.”
Representatives at the FAA and Sacramento International Airport confirmed the emergency, but haven’t commented on the cause of the decompression.
A plane bringing 118 passengers from the troubled flight will land at Sacramento International Airport at 8:30 p.m. tonight.
What would have caused this?
Metal fatigue?
New meaning to Southwest motto “bags fly free.”
Some of Southwest’s 737s are really old.
My first thought too. Remember the Alaska Air 737 that blew out over Hawaii? Nor do I recall that to be the only other case. Seems there might be something about the skin of those airplanes that multiplies that risk, as if somebody got too close to the edge on a design parameter. Hard to believe with the safety factors in airframe design.
Gaping hole?
This is a gaping hole.
Cycle it enough times and it will fracture.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA812/history/20110401/2225Z/KPHX/KNYL/tracklog
That is disturbing!
The woman who took the pictures on the plane did take several of them. Perhaps it was after they landed and they could calm down.
Not a first time event for Southwest. Looks like they may be cutting corners leading up to the merger with ValuJet.
From 2009
Southwest checks fleet after hole forces landing
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31902513/ns/travel-news/
This was a 737-300, built between 1981 and 1999.
http://www.kcra.com/news/27405181/detail.html
One passenger said they heard an explosion during the flight and could see daylight coming through a hole in the plane.
The KCRA viewer sent in a photo that shows oxygen masks dropping inside the aircraft.
See Images From Inside Plane
“The hole is about 6 feet, oxygen masks are down,” passenger Brenda Reese told KCRA 3. Reese said she was asleep when the rapid descent took place but heard a jarring noise.
A separate picture shows a hole above a luggage compartment.
The FAA said they do not know what caused the decompression.
metal fatigue might sound like an explosion when it gives way
Oh, any moslem passenger.
Exterior photo shows metal blown outward
Exterior photo shows metal blown outward
Well, I don’t know jack about metal fatigue so don’t know how it would look.
I remember than. It was an Aloha Air flight. Around the same time a United 747 lost a big part of its side when a baggage hatch blew out.
Two flights. Same day.
Hmmmmmm.
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