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07-14-2009, 06:16 AM
An American passenger jet has been forced to make an emergency landing after a football-sized hole was found in its fuselage.
Southwest Airline flight 2294 landed at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia, after the breach caused the cabin to depressurise, Southwest's Marilee McInnis said.
The sudden drop in cabin pressure caused the plane's oxygen masks to deploy, but there was no report of injuries.
The Boeing 737 was flying from Nashville, Tennessee, to Baltimore, Maryland, at the time with 126 passengers and five crew members aboard, Ms McInnis said.
It was traveling at an altitude of 9,144 metres when the problem began.
After the emergency landing, the airline dispatched a replacement aircraft to take passengers on to Baltimore.
The damaged plane will remain in the airport for federal inspectors to examine it.
Passenger Steve Hall, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, told the Charleston Gazette: "We heard a loud pop and one of the panels [on the ceiling] was sucked up tight against the ceiling.
"You could definitely tell there was a hole there."
"The flight attendants did a wonderful job, walking back and forth and keeping everyone calm," he said.
Mr Hall went on that the plane remained in the air for 20 to 30 minutes before landing at Yeager. "It felt like a long time," he said.
Southwest Airline flight 2294 landed at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia, after the breach caused the cabin to depressurise, Southwest's Marilee McInnis said.
The sudden drop in cabin pressure caused the plane's oxygen masks to deploy, but there was no report of injuries.
The Boeing 737 was flying from Nashville, Tennessee, to Baltimore, Maryland, at the time with 126 passengers and five crew members aboard, Ms McInnis said.
It was traveling at an altitude of 9,144 metres when the problem began.
After the emergency landing, the airline dispatched a replacement aircraft to take passengers on to Baltimore.
The damaged plane will remain in the airport for federal inspectors to examine it.
Passenger Steve Hall, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, told the Charleston Gazette: "We heard a loud pop and one of the panels [on the ceiling] was sucked up tight against the ceiling.
"You could definitely tell there was a hole there."
"The flight attendants did a wonderful job, walking back and forth and keeping everyone calm," he said.
Mr Hall went on that the plane remained in the air for 20 to 30 minutes before landing at Yeager. "It felt like a long time," he said.