Don't forget to lock the door!
Airplane door detaches in air over Brazil
SAO PAULO, Brazil - The door of a TAM airlines plane fell off minutes after takeoff Tuesday and plunged into a supermarket's concrete awning, the airline said.
The Fokker-100 plane, carrying 79 Rio de Janeiro-bound passengers, returned to Sao Paulo's Congonhas Airport less than 20 minutes after departing when the door "unexpectedly" flew open and "detached" itself from the plane, TAM Linhas Aereas SA said in a statement.
The passengers continued their flight to Rio on another TAM aircraft, the airline said. No one was injured on the plane or ground.
The cause of the accident was being investigated, TAM said.
I find it rather amazing that nobody got hurt...but although surprising, that's a good thing.
I guess everyone had their seatbelts on...
posted by camojack | 04:03
14 Comments:
Those silly Fokkers! ;)
Amazing! Are you gonna follow this, camo? I wonder if lawsuits will fly? In the US, even without a single injury, there would be numerous lawsuits filed within hours of this happening. Wonder how litigious Brazil is?
Silly Fokkers!
benning:
You just loved saying that, huh? I've got that Fokker in my sights!
Lawsuits?! Here in the U.S., yeah...mental stress and whatnot. It's a sad commentary on this country...
Comes from having far too many practicing lawyers. Another sign of the breakdown of our nation. :(
Hate those Fokkers! (yeahhhh, I love sayin' that!)
I had the passenger door of a 4 seater ancient airplane (flown by Crazy Charlie, he and the plane probably ran on moonshine and Yoohoo) pop open at about 1000' over the New River Gorge in WV. YOWZA!!
Mental anguish wasn't what came to mind at the time. As I recall, it had something more to do with my stomache, my throat, and the lower digestive tract (if you know what I mean!) Oh, yeah, and the minor heart attack, too. :>0
benning:
Too many lawyers, indeed; there are more in this one country than the rest of the world combined.
MargeinMI:
Over the New River Gorge, eh? I'll bet it was quite a view. One o' these days, (months, more likely) I plan to write about whitewater rafting, which I've done in the New River Gorge, although the Gauley is much better. Also about "Bridge Day", during which I'd like to rappel into the New River Gorge one fine day.
Mental anguish, yes, that was the phrase I was looking for...
Incredibly ironic that you posted this when you did, Camo!
Are you keeping something from us? Do any of your friends call you "Abu" from time to time? May I see your papers, please?
Remember that Air Hawaii jet that lost a huge section of its roof, and one of the flight attendants, some years ago?
The "Mythbusters" (now one of my don't-miss shows) proved in one episode that explosive decompression, like what we saw in "Goldfinger", is almost impossible to achieve. On the other hand, if you're standing (or sitting) in the wrong place at the wrong time, life can get very exciting.
The only thing that scares me more than airliners is general aviation craft.
Did the pilot turn off the door is ajar alarm??? Someone opened the door...
Amazingly precient given today's headlines.
Way too busy at work, shoot me now
Not too many exciting plane rides for me. A few "bouncers", maybe. Landings in Cleveland and Washington, D.C. seemed to NEVER be smooth.
Had a real bumpy descent coming into Newark one time. I was riding with the president of my company (a former WWII B-17 pilot) and he was "white-knuckling" it. Go figure.
Probably my most exciting rides were in a glider, but then... gliders are supposed to be exciting! At least that's the impression you get when they strap the parachute on you.
I took my glider rides in Germany, and the pilot was a young fella who is now a pilot for Lufthansa. After we were in the air awhile he asked if I was feeling sick. "No", I said. "Good", he replied, "because if you were going to get sick, it would have happened by now."
The lack of any sound but a light wind noise flowing past the plexiglass canopy can be unnerving to some, but I found it very peaceful.
And I took some great pics too (which I later found out was something illegal to do). Maybe I'll post 'em someday at "View".
Maggie:
"Open Door Policy", eh?
Good one!
Possum:
I definitely do remember hearing about Aloha Airlines flight 243; a flight attendant was indeed swept out of the aircraft, and to the best of my knowledge they never did find her.
JR:
I suspect poor maintenance practices; maybe the door warning light was "inop".
boberin:
Prescient?! Nah, I just happened upon an article pertinent to one of my areas of expertise, is all.
Hawkeye®:
My most exciting flights were when I was a crew chief in the military, although I've ridden in a sailplane (glider) too, and it was great...we even flew over "Downtown, NJ".
(Well, NJ anyway)
Why was it illegal to take those pictures?
All:
Eleventeen!!!
At the time I took the pics, the Berlin Wall had just opened to East-West traffic. East Germany (the DDR) was still a communist country. No aerial pics were allowed for military reasons.
BTW, I visited East Germany on that trip too. I have a set of really cool stamps in my old passport with the DDR logo, etc.
Regards...
Not only that guys but that Fokker was flying a Wesserschmidt!!!
(Old WW1 Joke)
Hawkeye®:
Ah, that would explain it; I figured it was something like that.
kwl:
I think you meant to say Messerschmidt...
Kajun:
I was in a helicopter that flew under a jetliner on approach to Honolulu International once...that made a few people nervous.
(I wasn't one of 'em)
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