WN Jet diverts to West Va due to hole in Fuselage

[ATrude777]

http://www.wsmv.com/news/20043443/detail.html#

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Southwest Airlines flight that took off from Nashville at about 4 p.m. Monday was diverted after losing cabin pressure.

Flight 2294 was bound for Baltimore but had to land in Charleston, W. Va., instead.

Alex

[the_Yeti]

[P3_Super_Bee]

This LINK has what probably is a cell phone pic from the inside...

[Evan]

(CNN) -- A Southwest Airlines jet made an emergency landing in Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday after a football-sized hole in its fuselage caused the cabin to depressurize, an airline spokeswoman said.

It's about time they banned footballs in carry-on luggage.

[Carl E. Hackert]

Link below includes a series of images includes still shots taken from inside and outside of the fuselage. The hole opened just ahead of the tail (almost looks an access panel). Passenger cellphone videos also available. Cabin depressurized and masks deployed, no injuries.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/I-Saw-the-Sky-Where-I-Shouldnt-Be-Seeing-It.html

[elaw]

This competition between the airlines for amenities is getting really out of hand. Sunroofs on airliners may be a great idea but this is NOT the way to do it!

[Thurian]

It's about time they banned footballs in carry-on luggage.

HaHa! It wouldn't happen to an Airbus.
On a more serious note,
I wonder how many cycles this aircraft has done?
With a lot of airlines operating 25 minute turnarounds or less, the cycles must clock up pretty rapidly.
And with airlines looking to shave costs any way they can, I wonder what gets "overlooked" in their maintainence schedule?

[shamrock]

This competition between the airlines for amenities is getting really out of hand. Sunroofs on airliners may be a great idea but this is NOT the way to do it!

Fortunately this sunroof wasn't as big or as serious/fatal as Aloha 243. This time the tear straps actually worked.

[phoneman]

Were any composites used in area of the crack?

[Vnav]

Maybe the FAA shouldn't have lowered their fine.......

MAR 2, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Southwest Airlines will pay $7.5 million to settle complaints that it flew unsafe aircraft, and the fine will double unless the airline completes additional safety measures within a year, federal regulators announced Monday.





The Federal Aviation Administration originally recommended more than $10 million in civil penalties in 2008 after finding Southwest operated 46 of its Boeing 737 jets on nearly 60,000 flights without performing mandatory inspections for fatigue cracks in their fuselages.

FAA documents obtained by CNN found that in some cases, Southwest aircraft flew for 30 months after government inspection deadlines had passed.

A congressional panel concluded the planes were "not airworthy," and two FAA whistle-blowers said agency managers let the airline conduct the safety checks on a slower schedule to avoid disrupting flights.
The Dallas, Texas-based airline said it was happy to have settled "all outstanding issues with the FAA."
"This settlement with the FAA will allow us to focus on safety going forward, rather than on issues that are now behind us and that have already been addressed," Southwest Airlines said in a written statement.

[ATrude777]

N387SW was effected aircraft

N713SW(Shamu Plane--No Blowhole jokes please ) was the plane ferried in to CRW to pick up the stranded passengers.

All 181 737-300 were inspected overnight by MX and nothing was found that would cause concern.

WN had another diverted STL-MCO today diverted to MCO due to claimed fire in the APU, however no visible damage or anything in that regards, and somehow the media connected it to the hole on the plane from yesterday I LUV the media

Will be interesting to see what was the cause of the hole at the top.

For those thinking this is NOT an antenna plane or anything, those are only on four -700's for wireless testing.

Alex

[Evan]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Southwest Airlines will pay $7.5 million to settle complaints that it flew unsafe aircraft, and the fine will double unless the airline completes additional safety measures within a year, federal regulators announced Monday.

In other news, the police pulled me over and said that I was too drunk to drive, but gave me back my keys and told me the fine would double if they caught me again before I sobered up.

[Evan]

(CNN) -- Inspectors have found "nothing unusual" in the rest of Southwest Airlines' fleet of 737-300s after a football-sized hole in one of the jets forced an emergency landing, an airline spokeswoman said Tuesday. The airline inspected its roughly 200 Boeing 737-300s overnight following the incident that forced Southwest Flight 2294 to make an emergency landing in Charleston, West Virginia.

Can someone please explain to me how you inspect an entire fleet for metal fatigue overnight?

[P3_Super_Bee]

Can someone please explain to me how you inspect an entire fleet for metal fatigue overnight?

Can someone explain where the article say Metal Fatigue Inspection was performed?

[burke3265]

Am waiting

for someone to blame the pilot for having a plane that got a hole in it...