15-Inch Fuselage Crack Forces Jet to Make Emergency Landing
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FORT WORTH, Tex. — An American Airlines Boeing 727 lost cabin pressure and had to make an unscheduled landing because of a 15-inch crack in the fuselage, an airline spokesman said today.
The cause of the crack, near the right wheel well, could take several weeks of study to determine, said American spokesman Steve McGregor. The incident occurred Monday, and federal investigators examined the plane Wednesday.
The problem occurred less than two weeks after a 19-year-old Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 lost part of its upper fuselage while flying over Hawaii, killing a flight attendant and injuring 61 passengers and crew members. The cause was suspected to be structural failure.
American Flight 984, with 105 passengers and seven crew members, was en route Monday from Chicago to Philadelphia when it suddenly lost cabin pressure.
Cabin oxygen masks were deployed automatically before the landing. There were no injuries and no apparent disruption at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Mich., after the landing, officials said.
McGregor said the plane had made 39,983 takeoffs and landings, and “for a 727, that’s not a high number of cycles.”
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