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Qantas Jet Makes Sudden Landing With Gaping Hole
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Lina said the cabin's floor gave way, exposing some of the cargo beneath, and part of the ceiling collapsed. "There is a big hole on the right side near the wing," he said, adding that it was 7 1/2 feet to 9 feet in diameter.
Bob Vandel, executive vice president of the independent, Alexandria-based Flight Safety Foundation, said the hole caused the plane to lose pressure and oxygen, which required the pilot to start a quick, initial descent to normalize oxygen levels.
"The plane lost pressure, so the pilot had to get the aircraft down below 12,000 feet pretty quickly," he said.
The video shot by a passenger showed people sitting with their oxygen masks on -- just-served meals on their tray tables. Cabin crew continued to work, walking down the aisles and showing no sign of panic.
Geoff Dixon, the chief executive officer of Qantas, praised the pilots and the rest of the 19-person crew for how they handled the incident.
Qantas, Australia's largest domestic and international airline, boasts a strong safety record and has never lost a jet to an accident, although there were crashes of smaller planes, the last one in 1951. Since then, there have been no accident-related deaths on any Qantas jets.
However, the airline has had a few scares. In September 1999, a Qantas Boeing 747-400 with about 400 people aboard overshot a runway in Bangkok, Thailand during bad weather. And last February, a Qantas 717-200 with 84 passengers on board sustained damage in a heavy landing in Darwin, Australia.
Late Friday, the passengers boarded another plane for Melbourne. The damaged plane was towed to a hangar in Manila.
