Flight returns to San Francisco airport after cabin wall panels come loose

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**Jihadin**

SAN FRANCISCO – A Dallas-bound American Airlines flight that departed from San Francisco International Airport turned around and made an emergency landing Monday at SFO after some of the cabin's wall panels cracked loose, aviation and airlines officials said.

The captain of the Boeing 757 decided to turn around an hour into the flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport because of a possible blown air duct, American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said.

Flight 2293 departed from SFO shortly before 1 p.m. and landed without incident at about 2:15 p.m. No one on the plane with 184 passengers and six crew members was hurt, he said.

"The captain elected to return to San Francisco and landed the plane safely," Miller said.

Even though the plane's problem is related to pressurization the cabin did not lose pressure and oxygen masks did not deploy, he said.

James Wilson, of Kyle, Texas, said he and his fellow passengers knew there was a problem within minutes after the flight's takeoff from San Francisco. Wilson, 32, an amateur race car driver returning from a competition in Northern California, said they felt the fuselage violently shake and heard popping noises coming from outside of the Boeing as it made its initial ascent.

Then they watched in horror and screamed for the flight attendants to come as interior panels on both sides of the aircraft pulled apart from the walls.

"It was the whole Row 14 on all sides, from the floor to the ceiling," said Wilson, who was seated in the row right behind and felt a change in cabin pressure. "It sounded like it was popping and banging so loud at first I thought stuff was coming out of the overhead compartments."

Crew members were "pulling the panels apart and looking for daylight behind there," he said.

Wilson took a photograph of what was happening and posted them on his Facebook page so his wife, who was en route to Dallas to pick him up, would know what had happened in case of a crash.

Over the concerns of nervous passengers, the captain announced that the flight would continue on to Dallas because the pressure inside the cabin was stable, but he changed his mind and decided to make the emergency landing after he saw the damaged panels for himself, according to Wilson.

"We had some very professional flight attendants and they did a very good job keeping people calm. They said, `It's just cosmetic," he said.

However, Wilson said he doubts that a blown air duct prompted the emergency.

The FAA will work with the airline to determine the plane's problem, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The passengers are still in San Francisco and American Airlines plans to send a plane from elsewhere to fly them to Dallas on Tuesday, Miller said.

Article from Fox News
Video from Youtube

Let's see....
Lightening strike on my aircraft in '94. Landed on Chicken Road on Fort Bragg NC. Three cig's and laughter.....De-icing Blankets on all four blades fried and some other electrical damage Class B
Bird Strike?FOD'ed the Number Engine on my aircraft in '96. Barn owl total the engine. Emergency landing in a elementary school yard Tuesday night....Wensday morning I wanted to shoot some kids. Fort Campbell Class B 4 cig's
Compression Stall doing pinnacle landing. Nice roll overs '96 Fort Campbell. Class A 3 cig's
Roll On landing Fort Polk on a old firing range. Left wheel strut catches a fighting position that was only covered by ply wood '96. Aircraft total Class A 5 cig's
Time spent as a Night Stalker
RPG through the Horizontal Stab that also went through the Vertical Stab '03....forgot to pull the pin on the rocket to arm it....2 Near beer and 4 cig's later....

This though.....two heart attacks, couple of strokes, throw in epileptic shock, a brain aneurysm, one ripping crap in my pants, sucking on the oxygen mask, death grip on the arm rests.....

Think the aircraft body twisted in flight on a bank

**Ouze**

I think it probably was cosmetic, not structural. Still the emergency landing was the right call.

**Jihadin**

Ouze wrote:
I think it probably was cosmetic, not structural. Still the emergency landing was the right call.

The panels I believe adhered and Dzeus fastners on the main structural framing of the aircraft and it does appear to in the middle of the aircraft where a "twist" is more likely to occur as the aircraft spiral climbs to attitude and heading. Wonder how many hours it was out from a phase or close to a phase

A phase is a term overhauling an aircraft for those who are not aware of aviation lingo

Certain inspections are performed at so many hours of flight time to

**Frazzled**

Hey if you don't want interior moulding to fall on you mid flight, just pay the additional "no mould falling on my head" fee.

**Crazy_Carnifex**

Frazzled wrote:
Hey if you don't want interior moulding to fall on you mid flight, just pay the additional "no mould falling on my head" fee.

Stop giving them ideas.