Monday, June 02, 2008

Window on American Airlines MD-82 breaks in flight

American Airlines MD-80 aircraftLast evening, June 1, 2008, the outer layer of a window in the passenger cabin of an American Airlines MD-82 aircraft shattered in flight. According to an American Airlines spokesman, the incident occurred about 20 minutes after Flight AAL 2094 had departed from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) bound for Southwest Florida International Airport at Fort Meyers. Shards from the window were ingested into one of the aircraft's engines. The engine was shut down, and the aircraft returned to DFW, where it made a safe emergency landing. No one among the five crew and 127 passengers on board was injured.

The American Airlines spokesman, quoted in an Associated Press article about the incident, said that although oxygen masks were deployed in the passenger cabin, the aircraft did not depressurize. A news report on CBS11TV.com quoted a passenger who was on board the flight who said that the noise created by the shards hitting the engine was "one of the most horrific sounds" she had ever heard.

[Photo Source]