Monday 4 April 2011

Southwest flight makes emergency landing, 'hole' found on top of jet

A Sacramento-bound Southwest Airlines flight declared an in-flight emergency this evening and diverted to Yuma, Ariz., because of "rapid decompression in the cabin," The Arizona Republic reports.

The Sacramento Bee writes "Southwest Airlines Flight 812 made a rapid descent to 11,000 feet after the incident occurred and later landed safely at Yuma Marine Corps Air Station/International Airport at 4:07 p.m. (7:07 p.m. ET), FAA spokesman Ian Gregor wrote in an email."

Southwest issued a statement shortly after 9:30 p.m. ET, saying:

    Southwest Airlines Flight 812, the scheduled 3:25 pm departure from Phoenix to Sacramento today, diverted to Yuma, Ariz due to loss of pressurization in the cabin. Upon safely landing in Yuma, the flight crew discovered a hole in the top of the aircraft. There are no reported Customer injuries. One of the Flight Attendants, however, received a minor injury upon descent.

Sacramento's KCRA TV reports that "the plane descended 16,000 feet in a minute, according to the flight-tracking website called flightaware.com."

There were 118 people on the flight, which had taken off from Phoenix en route to Sacramento. The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-700, according to flightaware.com.

The FAA's Gregor tells The Associated Press that the cause of the decompression wasn't known as of 10 p.m. ET Saturday.

As for the "hole," several passengers described what they saw to the various media sources reporting on the incident.

"You can see daylight through it," a passenger identified as Brenda Reese is quoted as saying to KCRA by cellphone.

"It's at the top of the plane, right up above where you store your luggage," Reese added to AP in a telephone interview. "The panel's not completely off. It's like ripped down, but you can see completely outside."

AP writes "Reese said there was 'no real panic' among the passengers, who applauded the pilot after he emerged from the cockpit following the emergency landing."

Another passenger on the flight -- identified only as "Cindy" -- describes the scene to Sacramento's CBS 13.

"They had just taken drink orders when I heard a huge sound and oxygen masks came down and we started making a rapid decent. They said we'd be making an emergency landing," CBS 13 quotes the woman as saying. "There was a hold (sic) in the fuselage about three feet long. You could see the insulation and the wiring. You could see a tear the length of one of the ceiling panels."

"An FAA inspector is en route to investigate," CNN reports on its website.

Southwest says in its release that it "will work with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as they investigate this event."


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