Southwest Airlines Co. inspected about 200 planes overnight after a hole measuring 30 cm-by-30 cm opened up in the passenger cabin of a jet in flight, forcing an emergency landing in West Virginia.
Travelers on the Boeing 737 aircraft could see through the hole that appeared during the flight on Monday. The cabin lost pressure, but no one was injured on the Nashville-to-Baltimore flight with 126 passengers and five crew members on board.
Passenger Brian Cunningham told NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday that he had dozed off in his seat in midcabin when he was awakened by “the loudest roar I’d ever heard.”
He said the hole was above his seat. People stayed calm and put on the oxygen masks that dropped from the ceiling.
“After we landed in Charleston, the pilot came out and looked up through the hole, and everybody applauded, shook his hand, a couple of people gave him hugs,” said Mr.Cunningham
It’s not clear what caused the damage. Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said the airline inspected 200 Boeing 737-300-series jets overnight at hangars around the country and discovered no other similar problems.
“It was a walk-around visual inspection just to check for structural integrity,” said Ms.McInnis.
Representatives from the National Transportation safety Board and the aircraft manufacture Boeing were helping to determine cause of the hole, said Ms. McInnis.
The hobbled airliner was placed in service during the 1990s and went through “routine maintenance” this month, she said.
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