Another 737....
 

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300, registration N387SW performing flight WN2294 from Nashville,TN to Baltimore,MD (USA) with 126 passengers and 5 crew, was climbing out of Nashville through FL340 about 24 minutes into the flight, when a hole of about 30cm by 30cm (1 foot by 1 foot) opened in the cabine ceiling just before the root of the vertical tail. The cabin pressure was suddenly lost, oxygen masks deployed and the crew initiated an emergency descent reaching 11000 feet 6 minutes later. The crew decided to divert to Charleston's Yeager Airport,WV , where the airplane landed safely 20 minutes later. No injuries occured.

A replacement Boeing 737-700 registration N715SW resumed the flight and reached Baltimore with a delay of 3.5 hours.

The FAA and NTSB are investigating.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1247571229.jpg

I bet that made one hell of a noise.

And did wonders on the ears when the pressurization headed South...

Looks like the rare "sunroof" option.

Nah, 'twas nothing more than a "flesh wound"....


HERE'S the "sunroof 737":

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1247585622.jpg

ONe of the flight attendants was sucked out of that one and they found parts of her smeared on the edges of the roof where she exited. So horrendous.

A good link on the famous 737 rudder PCA system...
http://www.airlinesafety.com/faq/B-737Rudder.htm

As I remember, there's an antenna mounted there. (or was).

EDIT:

Checked the docs, and nope, no antennas there. Scuttlebutt is the 'rip-stop' design on fuselage skin panels did it's job. Redesign after Aloha, to include no more 'cold-bonded' skin panels.

SWA usually has some of the highest cycle airframes in the industry, and this one will get well looked at.

From SAE website:
Early Boeing 737's were manufactured using a cold structural adhesive bonding process to attach internal doublers to the fuselage skin and to supplement rivets at the skin lap splices. The doublers carry loads and perform a fail-safe tear-stopping function. Failures of the adhesive bond have been found in some of the cold bonded components jeopardizing the design integrity of the fuselage pressure vessel. This paper examines the problem, service experience, and modifications currently being made to restore structural integrity; and relates these modifications to the other required elements in the current solution to the "Aging Aircraft Problem".

Just to be clear here, Syl.

This was a 737-300. No cold bonding, that being in only the first 100 of the -200 models.

DID have the 'rip-stop' skin.

Appears to have worked in this case.

Fortunatly...

The NTSB released detail pictures of the skin section on Jul 16th and said, that visual examination did not reveal significant corrosion or any obvious pre-existing mechanical damage. The fractures are suitable for further analysis. A detailed metallurgical examination will be performed in the following days. The hole in the skin measures approximately 12 inches by 8 inches (30cm by 20cm), the skin is about 0.032 inches (0.8mm) thick with an additional layer of another 0.032 inches (0.8mm) thickness bonded to interior surface in selected areas. The airline is now going to repair the airplane.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1247830233.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1247830243.jpg

Is it just me or would you strenuously AVOID flying on N387SW in the future?

Cannot wait to see what they found is the cause. Very interesting failure.

The most dangerous part of any pax's journey is the drive to and from the airport.

The pilots do a flight exam and doctors visit every 6 months. The airplane is inspected far more than any car. The idiots we have driving on our highways these days exceed all of these limits by a long ways.

Personally I would fly this jet anywhere. After this situation its going to be the most extensively inspected B737 in the fleet... and its a Boeing. You notice that it might have had problems but it got every person onboard on the ground safely.

Joe A

Is that a sheet of aluminum that tore away in the middle?

I wonder what made the back of the tear so straight.

The 737 is a good one, but not better than the others...it got his share of fatal crashs...Boeing or not...!:(

Is this code for "Southwest's fleet is a bunch of old planes that they fly until they fall apart"?

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-03-06-fine_N.htm

The FAA said it will seek the fine from Southwest for flying 46 jets during nine months in 2006 and 2007 without performing required inspections for cracks in the fuselage.

Cracks eventually were found on six of the planes.

The Boeing 737 jets made 59,791 flights before the airline realized in March 2007 that the inspections had not been completed. The airline deliberately made 1,451 more flights after discovering the lapse, the FAA said.

Are we surprised...!

That's what I thought too. Looks like the panel had rectangular stampings, almost like those pull tabs for pop cans...

No, don't think so. My best friend that flies there was chuckling about this and another incident recently at SWA.

Both flights were being flown by check airmen. (every pilot's least favourite guy in their career. Even ranked behind, pardon the pun, the flight doc that gloves the prostrate every 6 months....).

Trust me, there is special kind of karma in this business.