American Airlines Passenger Watch Walls Split Apart In Flight

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (KGO) --
An American Airlines jet bound for Dallas makes an emergency landing at the San Francisco International Airport when it looked like the inside of the plane was coming apart at the seams in midair.

A passenger caught a photo of the walls of the plane coming apart near the windows. Many of the passengers ABC7 News spoke to were feared the worst.

There were 184 passengers on board the flight. The FAA is investigating the bizarre incident and it wants to know what caused the walls of the plane to buckle during takeoff.

The American Airlines Boeing 757 was towed to a maintenance hangar at SFO after making an emergency landing.

American Airlines Passenger Watch Walls Split Apart In Flight

I think its time we assess that the planes in service now need upgrades. We need to also assess a show like Mayday or Air Disasters and admit that greed is leading to some very serious neglect and proper servicing of aircrafts. An incident like this is fortunate that it wasn't worse - nothing of this magnitude has happened in the seams of the wall since the plane that was ripped open from a seam separation in the 1930s in Italy - and that was due to stapling the wall in.

SMH. Planes should be more evolved than this.

Imagine if this would have happened on a plane holding 3-5K passengers, like the new Airobus development planes want to do.

originally posted by: ArchPlayer

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (KGO) --
An American Airlines jet bound for Dallas makes an emergency landing at the San Francisco International Airport when it looked like the inside of the plane was coming apart at the seams in midair.

A passenger caught a photo of the walls of the plane coming apart near the windows. Many of the passengers ABC7 News spoke to were feared the worst.

There were 184 passengers on board the flight. The FAA is investigating the bizarre incident and it wants to know what caused the walls of the plane to buckle during takeoff.

The American Airlines Boeing 757 was towed to a maintenance hangar at SFO after making an emergency landing.

American Airlines Passenger Watch Walls Split Apart In Flight

nothing of this magnitude has happened in the seams of the wall since the plane that was ripped open from a seam separation in the 1930s in Italy - and that was due to stapling the wall in.

SMH. Planes should be more evolved than this.

Imagine if this would have happened on a plane holding 3-5K passengers, like the new Airobus development planes want to do.

There have been lots of incidents, especially with short haul aircraft, and the early Comets. The Hawaiian jet that lost its roof. But 45 minutes to declare an emrgency? the pilot must have been on something.

When it comes to safety, airlines are like any industry...it all comes down to actuaries and algorithms and acceptable losses financially due to payouts to families versus repair and maintenance costs.

Flying is still safer than driving statistically.

a reply to: smurfy

It was Aloha actually. Flight 243.

Interior walls coming apart could be indicating a structural problem, but in and of itself isn't necessarily a safety of flight issue. I've seen a lot of walls that had separated to some extent. The entire fuselage expands and contracts during flight, so there is going to be some shifting.

a reply to: smurfy

Yeah he waited too long... There's no way that he didn't feel/hear what was going on unless he was hammered.

Anyone out there ( Maybe Zaph? ) know how they put these things together? I assume rivets and glue, or something similar?

a reply to: DigitalJedi805

Interior walls use a bonding agent. It's pretty much industrial strength glue, and like glue it breaks down over time.

That's the thing though. The pilot probably DIDNT know it was happening. The inner wall is totally separate from the airframe. He wouldn't have felt a thing.

a reply to: ArchPlayer

Although one would never wish to see the interior walls of an aircraft coming apart at the seams, it has to be said that the interior walls and the exterior panels of which the fuselage is made, are not made to withstand the same stresses as one another.

In this case, I would imagine that if there had been any kind of exterior breech, there would have been a significant and possibly catastrophic loss of cabin pressure, causing the oxygen masks to be deployed, and of course, for everything which was not either quite heavy, or not nailed down, to go torpedoing toward the openings in the outer skin of the aircraft.

Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that this was a largely cosmetic issue, although understandably terrifying from the perspective of a passenger. To say that this should not have happened at all, rather goes without saying, but it is important to be mindful of the reality before one.

Perhaps the methods by which the interior panels of the walls of this type of aircraft, are attached to one another, and to the frame work of the aircraft, need looking into, and updating. Perhaps every 757 in service needs to be examined and retrofitted with better body panels, or perhaps the ones which have been fitted up until this point, need to be cycled out for ones of a more stalwart design?

In either case, lack of exterior breech aside, the idea that a plane ought to be coming to pieces in even the smallest possible way, when one is aboard it (often having paid through the nose for the damned honour I might add), is utterly objectionable.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: DigitalJedi805

Interior walls use a bonding agent. It's pretty much industrial strength glue, and like glue it breaks down over time.

That's the thing though. The pilot probably DIDNT know it was happening. The inner wall is totally separate from the airframe. He wouldn't have felt a thing.

Thousands of cycles of pressurization and depressurization will make the rigid interior walls work their way loose and things like this can happen.
As long as the fuselage skin isn't structurally damaged there won't be any indications on the flight deck as the cabin altitude will be normal.

a reply to: Ivar_Karlsen

Exactly. Scary? Absolutely. Dangerous? Only if you get hit in the head by an overhead compartment.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Ivar_Karlsen--->Only if you get hit in the head by an overhead compartment.

We actually had that happen on a ferry flight. It was one of those ultra short haul B737-300's with nearly twice as many cycles as hours in the log.
They pressure tested it, glued the interior back together and put it back in service.

a reply to: Ivar_Karlsen

I had a cleaning crew watching my every move one day while searching a Northwest 747 after an international arrival. We had to check the life jacket pouch, and at least 8 or 10 times I stood up into one of those damn bins. They thought it was histerical, I just thought it hurt after the third one.

I think those were the last ones who were made in china..

Scary when your on it..

Some blow molded plastic comes loose and everybody panics. The plane returned to San Francisco because AA has a maintenance hub there. It was more of a matter of convenience to the airline, than a safety issue. If it was a safety issue, the aircraft would have landed at the nearest airport, not fly an hour back to San Fran. Like the article mentioned, one of the ducts that feeds the air vents above the seats came apart and the air pressure separated the panels.

A while back, I got bumped up to first class on a flight from San Fran to China. The flight was completely full and a guy complained about a crack in the window next to his seat. We had already pulled away from the terminal when he saw the crack. I told the flight attendant that I'd swap seats with him, no problem. He agreed.

The crack was in the 1/8" lexan inner window, not the pressure resistant outer window.

a reply to: JIMC5499

When I was young I got to see an airplane that was being built.

They are segmented parts that are held together with a series of bolts. That is the outer shell. Underneath that is another wall, insulation, another wall between that, then a # ton of wires that are also segmented, another layer of insulation, and then you get to the level part of the plane that you walk around and set bags into. That is another shell of walls. Then it gets to the part that you ride in.

Each segment is built in sections of about 8 feet I think it was.... And each section takes 2 to 5 days depending on the crew they have working on it. My uncle used to build planes for united Airlines. There is a # ton of work to be done on each plane. They use soldering, glue, bolts, paste. You name it the plane is made of it. It is layers and layers of sheet metal, insulation, wires wires wires wires and even more wires and a bunch of repetitive bolt punching. The hardest part about building the planes would be the part you ride in. Seats are fine but the cabinets are a pain in the ass. The wiring for each seat is a snap but the tracks, panels, and ultimately the windows that suck. Each window has to fit perfectly otherwise they will pop out under pressure. A lot of precision is needed for the windows. Of course if you can't see out of the airplane people will panick.

Building a single airplane is like building 50 RVs to put it simply. Everything in the plane holds it together. It isn't the outer shell alone. The wires, insulation, seat rails, cabinets, luggage Bay, wings, everything keeps it together. At least that is how I perceived it with the placement of each segment overlapping each other here and there.

Scary indeed. Here is the passenger vid.

a reply to: EnigmaAgent

Eh, I've seen worse.

a reply to: GiulXainx

In the late 80's I worked converting 727's into cargo carriers for FedEx. When it came to the cargo doors, we had to remove and add components in a certain order. We would actually put in temporary structures that would be removed later. One of the last things that we did was to cut the hole in the skin. If we would have just gone ahead and cut the hole for the door first, the fuselage would have failed.

Next time while flying around for 45 minutes, the air frame will fail and every one will be asking why the plane just didn't land.

I'd fell better knowing the flight attendants were looking at it, scratching their head and asking passengers to give feed back.