Yahoo Travel Editors
December 14, 2015
On the list of scariest things that can happen on a plane, seeing a piece of the wing fall off has to rank near the top. That’s exactly what happened on a Southwest Airlines flight over Texas on Sunday, but fortunately, the plane made an emergency landing with no one harmed.
Flight from 987 from Austin to Harlingen was carrying 109 people when, as passenger Lorenzo Hernandez Jr. posted on Facebook, “on the left side of the plane, fasteners came or broke off the wing. I heard a few people to the side of me scream to the aircrew, a piece broke and flew off and a panel was hanging.”
Related: What Really Happened When this Plane Nosedived 20,000 Feet for an Emergency Landing?
This photo shows a piece of the wing missing. (Photo: Lorenzo Hernandez Jr./Facebook)
Hernandez posted photos of the faulty wing on Facebook. He said when it happened he felt “the worst turbulence ever,” and that passengers were praying, but “I am glad to say the great staff and pilots kept calm and stabilized the plane after a few minutes.”
The plane touched down in San Antonio without incident. A Southwest spokesperson told the Daily Mail the issue was “a flap track canoe fairing appearing to be at an irregular angle.” Southwest said they would take the flight out of service for further inspection.
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