What started out as a smooth, easy trip from Nashville to Baltimore quickly turned into a frightening flight for more than 100 passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight Monday. A 1-foot-by-1-foot hole developed on the top of the plane at the base of the vertical stabilizer and exposed passengers to the evening sky. Passenger Michael Cunningham said he heard a loud boom, and then looked up and saw the hole in the plane’s cabin. Cunningham snapped photos after the hole opened up.
“All of the sudden, the loudest noise I ever heard came out of nowhere,” he said. “There was no pop, no creak, no explosion-like noise. There was just a loud roar. It took me a couple of seconds to wake up. I got the baseball cap out of my face and I look up and there’s the sun coming through the ceiling. …I saw sky where I shouldn’t be seeing it.”
The 737’s cabin suddenly lost pressure and oxygen masks fell from above. Passengers were instructed to put them over their noses and mouths. The plane made an emergency landing at 6:15 p.m. at Yeager Airport in Charleston, W.Va.. Incredibly, no one was injured. Airport spokesperson Mike Plante said the passengers were remarkably calm as they waited for another plane to take them on to their true destination.
The passengers finally landed at BWI just before 10:30 p.m.
“As soon as we got to the airport in West Virginia, everybody cheered, everybody high-fived the captain. Some gave him hugs,” Cunningham said. “But it was great crew, great flight crew, great flight attendants. Everybody just did what they needed to do and everybody was fine.”
Holy Schnikey! Is there an extra charge for the “fresh air”?
Before smoking was banned on airliners, mechanics used to be able to find invisible stress cracks by looking for places on the fuselage where smoke leaked…
Patrick, you mean during a flight there are mechanics in gorilla suits sitting on top of the plane looking for leaks?
This story is bogus. I saw Goldfinger, and if a hole opens, everyone flies out of the plane unless they can grab on their seats reals tight.
#2 Umm, no. But, keep posting, eventually you will make sense… Maybe.
The ‘hole’ looks far to regular to be anything other than an access panel. I bet when they go through the records it will have been opened recently, clearly it was not put back into place properly.
Since the outside hole was moderate in size, and an obvious access point the edges were probably well enough engineered that it did not expand, or the inner bulkhead material slowed the decompression enough that it did not expand.
I am just surprised that the whole was over the passenger cabin, it seems like it should have been over a galley or the bathrooms.
I’m thinking that this is too soon after the 4th of July, to be a coincidence. And there are still some idiots looking for ways to use up their spare fireworks. It wouldn’t surprise me if some kids (or immature adults) decided to get creative with a piece of pipe. And turned it into one hell of a rocket! There have been idiots in my neighborhood, shooting off fireworks every weekend, both before and after the 4th. Probably a bunch of foreigners, who don’t know it’s only for one bloomin’ day!
“Incredibly, no one was injured”
What’s so incredible? Planes aren’t that fragile and it’s not like both wings fell off.
I’m not trying to make light of it, but I guess my tolerance of the media’s hyperbole is low today.
“Passengers freak”?? Gee, is that what “remarkably calm” means nowadays?
“Airport spokesperson Mike Plante said the passengers were remarkably calm…”
# 5 laxdude said, “Since the outside hole was moderate in size, and an obvious access point ”
Nope, no access panel there…
http://b737.org.uk/whiteice.htm
#8. Saw another article where a passenger said, “Literally the whole top of the plane ripped off,” Benson said.
He definitely freaked.
If the top hole IS an entry point, rather than an exit. Then obviously the projectile fell from an extreme altitude. Which leads me to think it could be from a satellite breakup. And that we’re never likely to be told the truth, as it could F-up the space program’s budget. If the public started fearing for their safety from all this orbiting junk raining down on them. Oh yeah, lets put even more up there. Perhaps it’s time for a conservation of space usage program. Rather than turning the skies into a very expensive Works/Jobs project. AKA “cash cow” for the aerospace giants.
So that episode of Mythbusters was right.
I hope Southwest was up to date in their inspections or this could be a big problem for them.
Ground the whole fleet I say- If its a Boeing, then I ain’t going!
Seems a bit odd this sudden breach in the cabin, but it also looks very uniform?.. Anyway… we shall see later on what transpired.. It probably was some sort of improper maintenance action..(I suspect) In the US they fly aircraft for many many years.. how old was this aiplane?..
Also for the Scarebus driver…#13 I work for an all Airbus Airline and we have a mix of 19/20/21 and some old some and some very new.. and they all have problems… Ding Ding Ding.. FWC always busy!!! Recently Gen #2 failure followed by IDG #1 overheat on the same flight.. atleast the APU was working OK.. and the list is endless.. so no need to pretend the Airbus is any better… I am sure if you were B737 driver your opinion would differ… I cant tell you how many times we have had burning smells that went unidentified they are high maintenance beasts… chers mate… I dont want to get into a tit for tat but its the facts… Both Aircraft types are high cycle becsue of their size and distance designs and they both work extreemly hard.
I guess one panel came off. I guess the glue delaminated or something.
If that was all that happened why should anyone be hurt?
Course if I’d been on board I just might have been wondering if the rest of the skin was about to peel off.
I just read it was a -300 this is a very old type (relatively) and I suspected that from the picture.. all of the new B737 have an extension in front of the Verticle stabilizer.. so it is an aged airplane.
More than 500 Aircraft.
BTW South West Operates the second-largest passenger fleet of aircraft among all of the world’s commercial airlines. (Not sure of this is true) but it will be relativly close. But more than likely the single largest operator of B737’s Dont believe theirs much “glue” on B737-300
Ball lightning. That’s all I’m going to say.
Obviously came from one of Airbus’s space-based lasers.
On the plus side, it looks like the skin failed like it’s supposed to, with the damage confined to the surface between the stringers and ribs.
This is how the skin is designed to fail, and the only reason Aloha airlines had their convertible accident is because their 737-200 was so severely stressed and cracked that it completely negated this design feature.
# 4, — #2 is reffering to an old episode of the twilight zone when william shatner is a bit stressed to see a gremilin on the wing of the plane he is riding in tearing off chunks during the flight, this gremlin looks like somene in an old gorrila suit…
obviously photo shop artwork here
It should be against the law for some people to (ab)use a video camera.
The 737 Convertible.
Hopper, I’m with you. But let me add, it’s time for phone makers to stop upping the pixels and start working on the quality of the images. You can barely tell what you’re looking at in these images. I have 5 Mp on my phone and barely acceptable images. A few years ago, I had a 2 Mp Sony camera that took excellent photos. Now I hear a couple of manufacturers are introducing 12 Mp phones! Great, 12 megapixel blurs… Sorry to go off topic.
ADAMMMMMM! What is it? You think sheet metal and rivets are not as good as plastic???? Help us here…
Isn’t it reassuring that between life and death in the skies a 1/16 thick piece of aluminum separates the two?
Refer #16
You seem very well informed sir, does your pseudonym means that your are flying A319 (the short bus)?.
I don’t like flying cattle-car style anyhow. Just another convenient excuse not to fly Southwest…
@#ethanol
The 2nd biggest airline by planes, 1st by number of flights.
No major crashes, no passenger fatalities.
Who were you planning to fly with instead ?
If it had been comparable to Aloha Airlines Flight 243 it might have been news.