This from the Miami Herald:
By TIM CHAPMAN, JENNIFER LEBOVICH AND PATRICIA MAZZEI
A piece of a cargo plane broke off as the plane started its descent into Miami International Airport Friday, falling to a Doral mall parking lot without hurting anyone or hitting anything, authorities said.
The piece, about 18-feet long, landed in the Dillard's lot at Miami International Mall, according to Christina Baguer, a city spokeswoman.
The Atlas Air Cargo 747 had left Santiago, Chile, and was on its final approach to runway 9L when the piece fell into the parking lot, said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane landed safely after the 11:30 a.m. incident, which is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA.
``We got lucky today,'' said Doral Police Chief Ricardo Gomez. ``If this had been on a weekend, this would have been a real problem.''
Jorge Tadeo was sitting in a car in the parking lot when the aircraft piece landed.
``There was a loud thunder and it looked like something that blew off a truck or something,'' he said. ``It fell over a tree and it blew into the parking lot.''
At first he thought the piece was ``a huge box,'' Tadeo said. But then he looked closer.
``You look at the piece and it's shaped like a wing,'' he said. ``No one thinks of a plane falling.''
A piece of a cargo plane broke off as the plane started its descent into Miami International Airport Friday, falling to a Doral mall parking lot without hurting anyone or hitting anything, authorities said.
The piece, about 18-feet long, landed in the Dillard's lot at Miami International Mall, according to Christina Baguer, a city spokeswoman.
The Atlas Air Cargo 747 had left Santiago, Chile, and was on its final approach to runway 9L when the piece fell into the parking lot, said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane landed safely after the 11:30 a.m. incident, which is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA.
``We got lucky today,'' said Doral Police Chief Ricardo Gomez. ``If this had been on a weekend, this would have been a real problem.''
Jorge Tadeo was sitting in a car in the parking lot when the aircraft piece landed.
``There was a loud thunder and it looked like something that blew off a truck or something,'' he said. ``It fell over a tree and it blew into the parking lot.''
At first he thought the piece was ``a huge box,'' Tadeo said. But then he looked closer.
``You look at the piece and it's shaped like a wing,'' he said. ``No one thinks of a plane falling.''
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