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AA Plane Loses Panel in Flight, Flies to Paris Anyway Posted on: Thu, 08 May 2008 14:27:18 -0400

American plane flies trans-Atlantic trip with missing panel

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An American Airlines plane flew from Dallas to Paris
even though a "large panel" fell off the underside as the flight took
off, the airline said in a memo to pilots.

Pilots and crew heard a noise and felt vibrations as the plane passed
through 10,000 feet, but did not know the cause until they landed in
Paris, France, according to the memo, which was obtained by CNN.

"There was no way this crew could have known this panel had departed,"
the memo says. "If they had known, they obviously would have returned."

American Airlines issued the statement after angry e-mails and photos of
the hole left by the missing panel, allegedly from members of the flight
crew, began circulating on the Internet and airline industry blogs.

The carrier is not commenting officially on the April 20 incident other
than to say it is investigating, spokesman Tim Wagner said. The memo is
dated May 7.

The statement defends the pilot's decision to continue the 9½-hour
flight, saying there were no warning lights, system abnormalities,
further noises or vibrations.

"The captain decided to continue to [Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport]
believing the noise might have been a cargo container shift," the memo
said. It says the pilot would have had to dump 100,000 pounds of fuel
before returning to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and that he
had options to land before crossing the ocean if there had been further
cause for concern.

The memo does not name the pilot of the 767 twin jumbo aircraft.

A wing panel blew off a USAirways plane somewhere over Maryland in
March. Investigators later said they found cracked wing clips on the
aircraft -- and on seven of the airline's 18 older Boeing 757s. All of
the aircraft have been repaired, according to the independent National
Transportation Safety Board, which is checking to see if other airlines'
fleets could be affected.

A fatal Concorde crash in Paris in 2000 was apparently caused by a metal
strip from another aircraft that damaged the Concorde on takeoff.

Photos of the missing panel here:

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/05/photos-of-aa-jet-with-missing.html


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Steven L.
Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net
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