Posted on 04/02/2011 9:16:29 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
(Reuters) - Southwest Airlines grounded 81 aircraft from its Boeing 737 fleet for inspection after a gaping hole in the fuselage forced one of its planes to make emergency landing in Arizona on Friday, the company said on Saturday.
Southwest (LUV.N) and Boeing (BA.N) engineers will inspect the aircraft to try to determine the cause, Southwest said in a statement. Passengers heard a loud noise and suddenly saw a hole about mid-cabin.
Southwest Airlines is working with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration on the ground in Arizona to determine the cause of a sudden drop in cabin pressure on Southwest Flight 812 from Phoenix to Sacramento on Friday, airline officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The way these planes are designed, there’s reinforcements in the fuselage that are theoretically, in the case of metal fatigue, only supposed to allow a limited portion of the fuselage to tear away. They’re designed to prevent wholesale failures like Aloha 243 and the BOAC Comet crashes in the 1950s. In this case, they appear to have worked and limited the blowout to one panel.
}:-)4
Hate to read that. Southwest is about the only airline I want to fly...usually extremely safe and efficient.
Hope it gets fixed and causes them no injuries to any passengers....nor hardships to the company. I guess some of
the 737s are getting along in years.
Bush’s fault...
WOW!!!!
That’d change the color of my underwear.....but quick!
Or, it's their new gimmick... skylights.
Exactly
I read in one article the plane was 15 years old, not really that old in terms of commercial airliners.
No, fuselage.
:^)
Moonman provided this link on an earlier thread. It shows how fast the plane descended. I’m sure the passengers thought they were going to die.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA812/history/20110401/2225Z/KPHX/KNYL/tracklog
Wouldn't a hole that big cause people to be sucked out of it? That is, unless you had a fat person who could plug the hole temporarily and save the rest of the passengers. (Hmmm, sounds like a "movie of the week" idea...)
No, it was the sudden appearance of a sun roof.
Wouldn't a hole that big cause people to be sucked out of it? That is, unless you had a fat person who could plug the hole temporarily and save the rest of the passengers. (Hmmm, sounds like a "movie of the week" idea...)
I’ve taken that flight to SAC numerous times in the last year
Passenger Flatus?
FUTURE SOUTHWEST GREETINGS:
“Good morning and thank you for choosing Southwest Airlines. Our flight crew would like to welcome you aboard our Boeing 737 convertible. For today’s flight, we plan to keep the top closed, though you’re free to take in the view any nearby window.”
Reason number 687 why I have quit flying for good.
From the looks of those pics, it appears an explosive device placed in the overhead storage bin went off. But obviously not completely or with full force as the plane was able to land safely.
Yeah, I keep saying I must scroll all the way down before posting... but I never do. [sigh]
I saw footage of the hole, and while big enough for a person to possibly fit through, the hole was obstructed by overhead compartments and whatnot. I’m no expert, so I can’t answer whether people can be sucked out of a man-sized hole. I remember that event where the whole top of a plane ripped off and people were swept away, but that’s an extreme example.
I just Tweeted this to Barney Frank to get his opinion. /sarc
They had to land so that everyone could change their drawers.
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