Southwest Airlines flight lands in Arizona after hole in cabin causes rapid decompression

[News_Editor]

Southwest Airlines flight lands in Arizona after hole in cabin causes rapid decompression

2011-04-02 11:25:40 GMT+7 (ICT)

YUMA, ARIZONA (BNO NEWS) -- A Southwest Airlines passenger plane carrying more than 100 people made an emergency landing in Arizona on Friday afternoon after the aircraft experienced a rapid decompression, federal officials and the airline said.

The incident happened between 3.30 p.m. local time and 4 p.m. local time when Southwest Airlines Flight 812, a Boeing 737, declared an emergency during a scheduled flight from Phoenix, Arizona to Sacramento, California. A total of 118 passengers were onboard.

"The captain made a rapid, controlled descent from 36,000 feet to 11,000 feet altitude after the incident occurred," said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He said there had been a rapid decompression, after which the plane safely landed at Yuma International Airport.

Passengers on the aircraft reported seeing a hole in the top of the aircraft, statements which were confirmed by the Dallas-based airline. "[i'm] happy to be alive. still feel sick," Shawna Malvini Redden, one of the passengers, said on her Twitter account. "Six foot hole in the skin of the plane five rows behind me. Unbelievable."

Redden, who also uploaded several photos to the social networking website that showed the hole as well as the captain and dropped oxygen masks in the cabin, said she texted "I love you" to her husband when the incident happened. She said the flight crew was "excellent" and stayed calm and checked on everyone.

None of the 118 passengers on board the aircraft sustained injuries, although some of the passengers passed out due to a lack of oxygen. One of the flight attendants, however, received a minor injury upon descent.

The cause of the incident was not immediately known, and the FAA as well as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are both investigating. The NTSB said it would send its Go Team to investigate what it called an in-flight fuselage rupture.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-02

[dananderson]

The faa has egg on it;s face again over this Boeing plane. Boeing used a shoddy sub-contractor abd then fired 2 quality control supervisors, who then blew the whitsle. http://articles.cnn.com/2008-04-03/politics/airline.safety_1_faa-audit-nicholas-sabatini-boeing-737s?_s=PM:POLITICS